


A Study in Silver

by Insomnomaniac



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akira is a strategic little bastard, Akira is more than a little starved for affection, Ann and Makoto are kinda in the background I'm sorry, Ann likes fish, Culture Confusion, M/M, Mer Akira, Ryuji is Bi oh boy, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-02-13 07:22:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 68,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12978972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insomnomaniac/pseuds/Insomnomaniac
Summary: Ryuji's never been too interested in the ocean. Sure, Ann found it fascinating and wouldn't shut up about all the cool stuff down there, but Ryuji just never saw the appeal. Until, that is, the conservatory rescues a creature with the lower body of a fish and the upper body of the most gorgeous guy he's ever seen. That, he was interested in.





	1. It Begins

**Author's Note:**

> Me: Hey, Som, shouldn't you be working on the shit you've already written?  
> Also me: GAY FISH  
> Me: Yeah that's great but shouldn't we just-  
> Also me: GAY. FISH!!!!!!

The whole thing started with Ann panicking over extracurriculars. At some point during her second year, it seemed to dawn on her that not a whole lot of prestigious colleges would be blown away by a resume consisting only of part-time modelling and one disastrous attempt at a babysitting service back in middle school.  
  
For about two weeks, their group chat was continuously spammed by Ann’s increasingly frustrated rants about colleges’ “ungodly expectations” and the city’s “complete lack of anything for a student to do that doesn’t involve running a fucking frozen yogurt shop why the hell are there so many frozen yogurt shops!”. It was beginning to drive everyone else nuts when Makoto, the group’s personal source of divine intervention, finally stepped in. Apparently, she’d done some searching around and found that a nearby aquarium was looking for volunteers to help with maintaining the place and other small tasks, and was willing to accept students. Annoyed as Ann had been over the whole “not actually getting paid” aspect, the fact that it was a good resume booster that didn’t involve refilling a yogurt machine eventually won her over, and she’d started working some time around May.  
  
Much to everyone’s surprise, Ann loved it. Something seemed to have clicked with her, and she became avidly interested in the facility’s marine life, even going out of her way to research the material and learn more about the creatures she worked around, indicating a level of interest that she’d never shown for anything before. Her enthusiasm didn’t go unnoticed by her employers. One of the scientists who worked in the conservation and research part of the facility seemed particularly taken by the girl’s passion. He would later confess that he had a daughter around her age, and that he saw in Ann the same level of eagerness in her that he did in his daughter whenever she found something she loved. Mr. Sakura was so taken with her that he would end up offering her an internship with him, meaning she’d be able to directly take part in the research, rescue, and conservation efforts that the aquarium was known for. Ann had happily accepted, and since then seemed to fall even more in love with the work.  
  
While her friends were all happy that she finally seemed to have found her calling, (Makoto in particular. Something about “needing more women in scientific fields”), they were considerably less happy with the fact that it now composed about 76% of any conversation involving her, including the group chat. Fish were great and all, but when you had to scroll through 5 pages of pictures and facts about them to see what the weekend plans were, it became kind of annoying.  
  
On top of that, Ann kept constantly inviting them down to the aquarium to come look at whatever new thing they’d found/rescued. Yusuke, with his never ending passion for aesthetics and inspiration, almost always went, but the rest of them frankly couldn’t be bothered. Sure, the sea turtle had been cool, but 99% of the time it was just a fish. And sure, Ann could go on and on about how cool this particular species was or whatever, but to everyone except her it was just a fish, and a fish was not necessarily worth the minimum three hours of their time.  
  
It was because of this that Ryuji was unsurprised by the buzzing of his phone one afternoon. A quick check of his messages revealed that yup, his suspicions had been correct; she was at it again.  
  
THE HOT ONE: Ryuji holy shit you need to get over here  
  
THE HOT ONE: Ryuji  
  
THE HOT ONE: Ryuji I’m not kidding get your ass over here you need to see this  
  
Ryuji rolled his eyes before responding.  
  
“GANGSTA”: ann for the last time im not interested in fish that havent already been made into sushi  
  
He’d barely got to put his phone down for half a second before it buzzed again.  
  
THE HOT ONE: This is different! You’re not going to believe this! I can barely believe this!  
  
THE HOT ONE: We found something incredible!  
  
Ryuji groaned.  
  
“GANGSTA”: ann oh my god i dont care about some cool miracle fish or whatever! it could shoot lasers out of its ass and itd still be just a fish  
  
“GANGSTA”: well okay actually id be interested in a fish that shot ass lasers  
  
“GANGSTA”: does this fish shoot ass lasers?  
  
He could practically feel Ann’s irritation from miles away.  
  
THE HOT ONE: No it does not shoot ass lasers you moron!  
  
THE HOT ONE: It’s a mer! We found a fucking mer!  
  
That got his attention.  
  
“GANGSTA”: bull. shit.  
  
She had to by making it up. Mer were practically extinct and their intelligence made it such that they were virtually impossible to corner. And even if, by some streak of crazy luck, someone did manage to corner a mer, their disposition was such that only one of them was leaving that situation alive. There was absolutely no way Ann was telling the truth on this one.  
  
THE HOT ONE: No it is not bullshit!  
  
THE HOT ONE: Here, check this out  
  
Ryuji tapped the photo she sent and his jaw dropped. Sure enough, right there in the picture, was a fucking mer. It was a little blurry, and it wasn’t at the best angle, but even with those factors it was obvious what he was looking at: from the waist up; dark hair and pale, smooth skin. From the waist down; tail.  
  
“GANGSTA”: holy fuck!!!!  
  
“GANGSTA”: ill be right there!  
  
\------------------------  
  
When Akira came to, his first thought was that he had actually died and this was some sort of purgatory space. It looked empty enough to be purgatory; the water around him was completely devoid of sand, rocks, seaweed, or any marine life (save for himself of course), and the light was like none he’d ever seen. He didn’t hear the distant calls of whales or dolphins either, just an odd white noise that seemed to come from all directions at once. All in all, the purgatory theory was a pretty strong one until he remembered that things weren’t supposed to still hurt after you died, and he felt like he’d been bitch-slapped by a blue whale straight into a boulder.  
  
His whole body ached, and his gills felt sore every time he inhaled, which was especially unpleasant given that inhaling was kind of a necessity. Akira groaned, then startled at the unnatural way his voice echoed. Oh yeah, he’d somehow almost forgotten; he had absolutely no fucking idea where he was.  
  
Trying hard not to move too quickly or harshly, he glanced around the space. He didn’t like what he saw. For starters, he was clearly above ground, as the water he lay in was confined to a fair-sized glass tank, with air all around otherwise. The rest of the area was fairly barren, with floors made of some unnatural rock substance, and lights on the ceiling that, though dimmed, were still artificially bright. A strange box on a nearby table emitted colorful light, and enclosed shelves full of unknown materials lined the walls. In its entirety, the room pointed towards the conclusion that Akira had suspected but desperately not wanted; he’d been captured by humans.  
  
Panic began to gnaw at the back of his brain, but he quickly suppressed it as best he could. Freaking out would only make things worse, he’d have to be logical about this. His ability to assess the situation and act accordingly was how he’d survived this long anyway, and if there was one place that’s come in handy it’d have to be here.  
  
Humans were the greatest threat to mer, even more so than the hunger-crazed sharks which sometimes ate their kind. At least the sharks had practical reason to harm them; humans seemed to do it purely for amusement. He’d heard the horror stories: mer being hunted for their scales or their voices or simply because they made good trophies; slaughtered and maimed and tortured, all for the entertainment or personal gain of humans. Humankind’s obsession with them was the reason they were nearly extinct, the reason why those who were left had evolved stronger natural weapons and higher intelligence. Humans were the bane of every living creature’s existence, and his dumb ass had managed to get caught by them.  
  
How had that happened anyway? Akira wracked his brain trying to remember how he fucked up this bad, but nothing really came to mind. All he remembered was relaxing in the shallows, then pain, then nothing. Sure, the whole “shallows” bit probably had something to do with it, but those waters were protected! For whatever reason, humans had banned their own kind from the section of the ocean where Akira had chosen to sun himself, and in the 3 years since he’d been living in the area he’d never once even seen a human there. It made no sense!  
  
'Well, whatever it was', he thought to himself, 'I guess it doesn’t really matter much how I got into this situation, it’s more important to know how to get out.'  
  
Akira glanced around the room again. Unfortunately, no deus ex machina had appeared to whisk him out of this shit-hole. No humans were in the room, but he knew that wouldn’t last long. How could they resist coming to take a look at their prize? Besides, if they were going to kill him or torture him or whatever the hell it was they were planning, they’d have to come in here to do it, and then he could figure out his options.  
  
Taking a deep breath, wincing as he did so, Akira settled himself to the bottom of the tank and faced the door, waiting for whatever might come.  
  
\------------------------------  
  
It was times like these that Ryuji hated not having a driver’s license. Of course, the city was so jam packed that it wouldn’t have meant much anyway, but he still found himself wishing desperately for the ability to transport himself places instead of spending 20 something minutes sardined in between several very smelly people and experiencing uncomfortable levels of personal contact the entire time. No matter how efficient or convenient public transport may be, something about having some guy you don’t know practically attached to your ass for several minutes makes those benefits seem much less important.  
  
Today though, he was excited enough about Ann’s text that he barely felt the horrifically sweaty bodies pressing up against his own. A fucking mer!! Most people went their entire lives and never saw one of those suckers, even seeing documentaries with them was super rare as almost no footage existed (turns out they were not too fond of cameras in like, a bitey way). And yet here he was, still in freaking high school, about to see a live one up close! He never thought he’d be so excited about going to a stupid aquarium, but hey, whaddya know? Shit happens.  
  
After what felt like forever, Ryuji finally arrived at the aquarium, his breathing ragged from having run the rest of the way from the train station. Ann was there by the door to the research and conservation building, along with Makoto (god she was always with fucking Makoto), Yusuke, and Haru, all of whom appeared to have been waiting for him. Ann was the first to see him.  
  
“Oh my god Ryuji there you are! I texted you, like, half an hour ago!” She complained, drawing the rest of the group's’ attention to the new arrival.  
  
“Jeez, Ann, gimme a break! My house is the farthest away and I can’t freakin teleport! Although holy shit, that would be awesome.” He responded, briefly imagining all the things he could do with teleportation. At least three of these things involved a bank or cash register in some way.  
  
“Ryuji! Great to see you, I’m glad you could make it!” Haru chirped, and Ryuji smiled. They’d only recently begun hanging out with the third year girl, but she’d grown on everyone quickly, in large part due to the fact that she was probably the sweetest person on the face of the earth. Why she liked hanging around with the asshole squad was a mystery, but they weren’t complaining.  
  
“Now that we are all present and accounted for, may we please head at once for the place where this mer is being kept? The opportunity for an artistic model such as this is an exceedingly rare one indeed.” Yusuke piped up, and Ryuji rolled his eyes. Of course that was why the weirdo was here; that friggin drawing crap again. Never mind the fact that mer were rare and cool as hell, what clearly mattered here was the painting opportunity. For such a creative guy, Yusuke sure did have a one-track mind at times.  
  
“Ooh, yes, yes, yes, yes!! God, I’ve been dying to for this! Let’s go!” Ann said, bouncing slightly in the way that she did when she was extra excited about something. Makoto was smiling at her, and Ann bolted towards the door, grabbing hold of the other girl’s forearm and dragging her behind. Ryuji snorted. Those two weren’t technically dating, but they might as well be.  
  
The group followed Ann through a series of identical looking hallways, passing by what looked like multiple medical rooms and several sciency-looking adults who waved at Ann when she passed, clearly used to the girl’s presence. At last, the reached a secure looking metal door with a key card reader in front of it, and Ann stopped, turning to them all.  
  
“So, obviously, this is pretty high-security cause like, mer are pretty rare, you know, and we don’t want anyone trying to run off with this guy. Uh, sorta related to that, we aren’t exactly advertising that we have a mer here, cause again, high theft probability, so with that in mind, please don’t like, take any pictures or videos or anything. Cause if that got posted, we’d get swamped, and I’d probably get fired. Technically I wasn’t even supposed to tell you guys about it, but I managed to convince Mr. Sakura by telling him you were all like, super responsible and definitely wouldn’t take pictures or post anything so… don’t let me down, alright?” Ann said.  
  
“Yeah yeah, totally, you got it. Now come on, let’s go!” Ryuji whined. Before Ann could do anything else though, a small girl that Ryuji recognized as Mr Sakura’s daughter, Futaba, turned the corner.  
  
Ryuji had only really met Futaba in person once, and that was just when he came over to the lab to study with Ann (the lab had plenty of quiet rooms where they could study, and his house gave him access to video games, which would prevent him from studying, so it was the logical choice). He hadn’t really known what to think of her; she’d just kinda sat perched on a counter nearby, typing away at her laptop and staring at him. She was apparently pretty close to Ann though, as she’d been added to the group chat not long after that particular encounter. From his experience with her via chat, she seemed pretty cool. Kinda rude, pretty sarcastic, and frequently weird. In other words; a perfect addition to their merry band of assholes.  
  
“Oh, Futaba! You’re just in time! I was gonna show them the mer we rescued earlier, wanna come?” Ann shouted, waving exuberantly, which seemed perhaps a little unnecessary given Futaba was only about 40 feet away. Ann always had some trouble with regulating excitement, but then again, so did Ryuji, so he couldn't complain.  
  
“Seriously? Hell yeah!” Futaba replied, running up to Ann. She glanced nervously around at the rest of them, and Ryuji vaguely remembered Ann telling them that she was usually some kind of nervous shut-in, but the look was gone as quickly as it had appeared, and she seemed comfortable enough, so it was probably nothing to worry about.  
  
“Alright guys, here we go! Remember; no. pictures.” Ann said, and with that she swiped her keycard through the reader, making the metal doors slide open to reveal a fairly dim, mostly empty room with a big glass tank in it. And laying on the floor of that tank, sure enough, was the same mer from the photo.  
  
“Holy shit”, Ryuji breathed out, walking quickly up to the tank and stopping about four feet away from the surface of the glass. The photo really didn’t do a good job of capturing the mer’s likeness. In person, for example, the reddish-silver scales of his long tail flashed hypnotizingly in the light, the scarlet fins on the appendage dancing slowly in the water, reminding Ryuji vaguely of those thin scarves some dancers had around their wrists. The fins on his forearms and the sides of his head were more rigid, but still that same vibrant blood red color, reflected again in the webbing between his fingers. The boy’s dark hair floated around his face like a halo and oh god, his face.  
  
Ryuji had known for a while that he wasn’t straight. Sure, he liked girls, but he also definitely, definitely liked boys. This had been a major source of confusion for a while, (didn’t you have to just pick one?), but when Ann finally explained the concept of bisexual to him some time around middle school, his entire fucking worldview was shattered. So that was a thing! Thank god, he’d just thought he was crazy, or some kind of pervert or something. But yeah, bisexual. Some days he wondered if he was making it up, because his attraction was much more frequently towards girls than guys, but right then, standing in that aquarium, Ryuji suddenly became wholly and completely aware of his sexuality in a way that he’d never before experienced because god. _damn _.__  
  
To put it in the simplest possible terms, the mer was fucking gorgeous. His eyes were so dark you couldn’t tall pupil from iris, and they reflected the light in a way that made them look like polished stone. His eyelashes were dark and long, his lips were full, and Ryuji had to quickly banish some of the thoughts that arose from that second observation. God hormones were a bad trip. But yeah. Wow. He definitely looked like an idiot right now, he never had been good at being subtle with these things, but he lacked the presence of mind to care much about that, nevermind do anything to stop it.  
  
  
  
\----------------------  
  


_____ _

Akira didn’t have to wait very long. Perhaps only ten minutes had passed before he heard voices on the other side of the door. He tensed. From the sound of it, that was a lot of people, which could complicate things. But oh well, it wasn’t like he had any other choice. He steeled himself and watched as the door slid open.  
Six humans entered the room. They chattered amongst themselves, all of them staring at him, making him slightly uncomfortable, but not so much so that he was thrown off.  
  


Akira eyed them over. Assuming human physiology was similar enough to mer, he was facing two males and four females. Shit. He didn’t know about humans, but female mer were nothing to fuck with. Sure, they were on average a fair bit smaller than their male counterparts, but they made up for it in terms of sheer aggression and violence. Didn’t matter how much smaller they were when their teeth were latched around your throat, now did it?  
  
As reluctant as he was to take his eyes off the females, it was actually one of the males who drew Akira’s attention the most. He looked to be about Akira’s age (or whatever the human equivalent of Akira’s age was, he had no idea), with short, spiky yellow hair and deep brown eyes. He was fairly muscular, draped in odd, brightly colored fabric, and most notably; he was straight up gaping at Akira. Sure, the other humans were staring as well, but this one in particular seemed taken, wearing an expression of such open awe that Akira couldn’t decide whether to feel uncomfortable or proud. Interesting.  
  
\-----------------------  


Ryuji was definitely staring. Normally he’d be mortified, but at the moment he found his mind was barely able to process any thought other than “pretty boy!!!!!!”. That is, until he heard Ann snickering.  
  
He turned to face her, reluctant to take his eyes off the mer but prideful enough to be unable to let it go.  
  
“How you doing there, lover boy?” Ann asked, her voice dripping with fake innocence. Ryuji scowled, his face flushing bright red.  
  
“Shaddup! It’s just- he’s just- i-it’s just cool, alright? I’ve never seen a mer before and I didn’t expect them to be that attra- er, shiny!” He blustered. Ann laughed even harder.  
  
“Oh boy, you’ve got it _ba~aa~d! _” She sang, and much to Ryuji’s horror, the rest of his friends were beginning to giggle as well. Well, not Yusuke, he wasn’t paying attention, but still.__  
  
“Can it!” Ryuji snapped, and to their credit the girls did go quiet, but kept smirking at him nonetheless. Ears heated, Ryuji turned his back on them and stared at the mer instead. The other boy had a strange look on his face.  
  
\-------------  
  
The blond human’s gaping was interrupted by laughter from one of the females, a tall golden haired girl wearing bright red. This seemed to get the boy’s attention and he turned away from Akira to look at her. Wise. It was never a good idea to leave one’s back to such a potentially deadly foe for long.  
  
The red girl said something to him that Akira couldn’t quite understand over the other foreign noises in the room. That and she talked fast. But he did understand the boy’s response to be a demand for silence, which shocked him. Had this boy lost his mind? He’d known females to kill for far less.  
  
To Akira’s surprise however, there was no snapping of teeth or burst of blood, just a smile and further talking. Were the two mated? No, that couldn’t be. If they were mated, she surely would’ve had a much more violent reaction to the boy’s obvious staring at Akira, but the fact that they clearly weren’t mated just left Akira even more confused as to why the boy hadn’t been attacked. All of the girls began to giggle, and once again the blond boy demanded silence, something which boggled Akira’s mind. Clearly, he had a death wish. Perhaps one would’ve been willing to tolerate him, but challenging four all at once? It would have been less suicidal for him to rush straight into a great white’s jaws.  
  
But again, he was left alone. No, not just left alone, he was obeyed. The girls, all four of them, ceased laughing, and Akira was stunned. At once it became clear to him that the loud male in front of him must have been incredibly powerful. How else could he have gotten away with what he’d just done? But wait, this was good. Akira could use this. The boy who was so obviously taken with him was also clearly the most powerful one present, so if he could work his way into this boy’s favor, then he would likely be protected from any of the other humans. Granted, he had no idea what this boy wanted, but his previous open-mouthed staring seemed to indicate a fascination with the mer, which could easily be played to. All Akira had to do was swallow his pride and remain interesting to the loud blond, and then he’d likely win himself a protector. Of course, this could all blow up in his face, but hey, it was the best shot he had right now at saving himself.  
  
Inhaling deeply, wincing again at the pain that bought with it, (seriously, what the fuck was up with his gills?), Akira began to move.


	2. Akira You Absolute Slut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miscommunication occurs. (Warning for talk of some depravity on the behalf of unnamed characters for exposition purposes)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess whose bitch ass has finals starting tomorrow? If you guessed me, you are correct.  
> Guess whose bitch ass wrote this stupid shit instead of studying for said finals? If you guessed me again, then buddy, you are two for two.

The look on the mer’s face similar to one of deep contemplation, something he’d often seen on Makoto, and it really slapped Ryuji in the face with the reminder of, ‘oh yeah, these guys are supposed to be wicked intelligent.’  
  
He hadn’t really had time to ponder over the implications of that revelation though before his breath was knocked right out of him because ‘holy fuck, he’s staring right at me!!’  
  
The mer’s impossibly dark eyes had locked on to Ryuji’s, and as if that weren’t incredible enough, he started to move.  
  
The bright red fins on the sides of his head flared outwards and slowly flicked back and forth. The ones on his forearms did similarly, as well as large one on his back that Ryuji hadn’t been able to see previously, though that one didn’t move. The mer raised his tail so that it caught the dimmed fluorescent lights and created a sort of disco ball effect, slowly moving it from side to side, the long, cloth-like red fins on its surface dancing in the water.  
  
Ryuji was mesmerized. He heard Ann make a sort of choking noise from behind him and whisper something (probably to Makoto. Actually, almost certainly to Makoto) but it sounded far away. All he could think about was the breathtaking figure in front of him, and the eyes that bored right into his. Ryuji was fairly sure he felt his heart stop when the mer began swimming closer to the glass, his silver tail moving up and down in long, smooth movements until he was right up at the edge of the tank, eyes still locked on Ryuji’s.  
  
Upon closer examination, the mer’s eyes were actually grey instead of black, reminding Ryuji of the heavy clouds that rolled in before a storm and caused people to spend their day glancing nervously up to the sky in anticipation; impossible to ignore. He’d never thought there could be so much expressiveness in monochrome before, and wow, that was almost poetic. Yusuke apparently had more of an influence than he’d thought.  
  
A brief moment passed where the mer merely floated there by the glass. Ryuji heard the rest of his friends’ sharp intakes of breath and murmurings, but his brain was a little too preoccupied to process any of it.  
  
Slowly, the mer raised up his right hand, the individual fingers spread wide to reveal the bright red webbing between, and fucking waved at him. Numbly, Ryuji felt his hand give a wave in return. Again, he heard sounds of excitement from his friends, and again, he processed none of it.  
  
A small smile then spread across the mer’s face and holy god, if he hadn’t been beautiful before, he was now. While the whole ‘stoic and mysterious’ thing had been great in its own right, the way the mer smiled made his already stunning features seem to glow, and the brightness in his grey eyes made Ryuji feel as if he’d somehow been pulled inside that tank and was floating, weightless, alongside him. He remembered hearing stories about mer being able to hypnotize humans and drown them, and he wondered if it felt anything like this. The scientific community had claimed that such stories were most likely complete bogus, but right now Ryuji wasn’t so sure. He had the feeling that if he had encountered this boy out at sea, he would’ve thrown himself into the depths in a heartbeat.  
  
\----------------  
Akira’s idea was a simple one, relying heavily on the fact that the apparent strongest of the humans before him seemed taken by his appearance. His best bet would likely be to play to that and keep the boy interested so that he’d have some reason to keep Akira intact. He locked eyes with the blond human in front of him, satisfied at the startled way he reacted to that. So far so good.  
  
Careful not to make any movements sudden enough to prompt an attack, Akira lifted the large fin on his back, then flared out the fins on the sides of his face and his forearms, flicking them slowly and bending himself in such a way that his tail was clearly visible above him, moving it to catch the light off of his scales.  
  
Embarrassment gnawed at the back of his mind, as did a horrified little voice that whispered to him: “Akira you absolute slut”, but he shut both of those down to the best of his ability. Yes, what he was doing was technically a mating display, but there was no way the humans knew that. Besides, he was only doing it because it just so happened to be the best way to show off in a non-threatening manner (which he supposed was the point). It was a good way to present himself as something pretty and interesting, worth keeping around. It was absolutely not flirting.  
  
It seemed to work, thank the spirits, as the blond boy in front of him seemed utterly enthralled. He heard one of the girls make a strange noise, but elected to ignore it. Normally, he wouldn’t dare have ignored any changes in behavior from a nearby female, as such things usually signified an attack, but the lean male in front of him had proven to have some apparent sway over the group, and his whole plan was banking on being able to use that to his advantage. Right now, he needed to focus on the leader.  
  
Gathering himself, prepared to dart back should things turn bad, he slowly moved towards the edge of the tank. Typically it wasn’t a good idea to advance on an unknown hostile (because even if they had yet to show any overt violence, the fact of the situation was that the humans were the enemy here), especially one with such apparent power, but he deemed it necessary. Besides, there was still a solid barrier between them, so even if his approach was met with violence, he would theoretically be unreachable. It wasn’t like he had a whole lot of options to begin with anyway.  
  
To his relief, the human boy did not react negatively to his advance, and Akira paused to think for a moment. Did humans have greeting gestures similar to mer? He wasn’t sure whether or not they did, as it wouldn’t exactly make sense for them to wave. The whole point of waving was that the combination of movement and extended, brightly-colored fins stood out out against the backdrop of the ocean and called attention. Humans had no fins, and therefore no way of making themselves contrast with their surroundings, so they would logically call the attention needed to greet each other some other way. Nevertheless, he decided to try it, if for no other reason than to further show off his fins, since that seemed to be working pretty well.  
  
To his surprise, the humans not only seemed to understand his gesture, but a few of them even responded to it. The blonde girl, the one who talked fast, whisper-shouted something indecipherable to the serious-looking girl beside her before giving him a huge, enthusiastic wave back. The petite girl with fluffy hair waved as well, though noticeably more reserved than the girl in red. The boy he’d been focusing on also waved back, though he seemed to distracted to put much effort into the gesture and instead just kind of flapped his hand.  
  
So it seems humans waved too. Odd. It made no sense for them to do so with their lack of fins, but he had other things to focus on right now. Careful to avoid baring his teeth, he smiled at the the human boy in front of him, and for a moment he found himself worrying for the other’s safety. Surely it could not be comfortable to have your jaw drop that far down.  
  
Some part in the back of Akira’s mind was practically singing in delight at the open admiration from the human. He supposed it couldn’t be helped; it felt nice to be appreciated every once in a while, and mer were at their core very prideful beings, so it was only natural that the boy’s entranced staring was bringing the beginnings of a pleased purr from Akira’s chest. No one had ever looked at him like that before, and were it not for the less than desirable circumstances, Akira was fairly sure he’d be loving this.  
  
\----------------  
The mer soon settled himself onto the floor of the tank, still staring at Ryuji with that little smile on his face, and it took Ann jabbing him in the ribs to get his attention.  
  
“Guh! Fuck, Ann, what the hell was that for?” he barked. It hadn’t actually hurt, it only knocked the air out of him, which was sort of the point.  
  
Ann had been the one to introduce them all to “the taze”, which was what she called it when you jab two fingers into the spot on someone’s side directly beneath their ribcage and effectively knock their breath out. She’d started doing it in middle school, and Ryuji vividly remembered the days of having to keep his arms locked firmly at his sides to prevent her from sneak-attacking him. To this day it was still one of her favorite ways to demand attention, and it had gotten to the point where any time she raised two fingers he instinctively darted away, which Ann found hilarious.  
  
“I’ve been trying to get your attention for like, two whole minutes, lover-boy. We’ve gotta go.” Ann said, smirking at him.  
  
“Wait, whaddya mean we’ve gotta go? We just got here!” Ryuji complained, electing to ignore the ‘lover-boy’ comment entirely. Some battles were not worth getting into, especially when she was absolutely right (something that he would sooner die than ever say out loud).  
  
“Yeah, I know, but we kinda decided it’d be best to mostly just leave him alone for today, let him get, like, used to the area, you know? So they don’t want anyone in here for too long cause they’re worried about freaking him out.” Ann replied, and Ryuji groaned.  
  
“But we just got here!!” He repeated.  
  
“Trust me, I don’t wanna leave either! But hey, tomorrow’s Sunday, and I’m 99% sure I can talk Mr. Sakura into letting us stay for a while tomorrow, alright?” Ann said.  
  
“Ooh! I can help with that! Trust me, dad’s stubbornness ain’t got nothing on my skills!” Futaba chimed in, and the evil little cackle at the end of that sentence made Ryuji briefly worry for Mr. Sakura’s health and safety.  
  
“Fiiine, I guess I can wait.” Ryuji said, sighing. He really, really didn’t want to leave the mer behind, but he also didn’t want to ‘freak him out’ as Ann had suggested, so he supposed his best option would just be to wait until tomorrow. Fuck, it was gonna be one hell of a night.  
  
“Alright then, let’s go. The trains should be leaving relatively soon so we should try to catch them before we have to wait for the next ones.” Makoto said, and reluctantly they all followed her lead out of the room. At the doorway, Ryuji stopped and gave one last look at the mer, still laying at the bottom of the tank and staring at him. Ryuji gave a little wave goodbye, then stepped out and let the door close behind him. Almost as soon as it did, Ann and Futaba burst into laughter seemingly out of nowhere.  
  
“Yo, what the hell? What’s so funny?” Ryuji asked, which, annoyingly, only made them laugh harder. Stranger still was the odd grin on Makoto’s face, one she was doing a poor job of hiding.  
  
“Seriously, what!?” He asked again, somewhat relieved to see that both Haru and Yusuke seemed as confused as he did. At least not everyone was in on… whatever the hell it was they were in on.  
  
“Oh, nothing~” Ann sang, “just that lover-boy here seems to have an admirer.”  
  
“They grow up so fast, don’t they?” Futaba added. Neither of these comments eased Ryuji’s confusion. In fact, they just made it worse.  
  
“The fuck are you two on about?” He asked, prompting yet another outburst of giggles.  
  
“Do you wanna tell him or should I?” Ann asked Futaba, ignoring Ryuji entirely.  
  
“No no no, you tell him, you tell him!” Futaba responded.  
  
“Tell me what!?” Ryuji asked, getting increasingly annoyed.  
  
“Okay so, you know like, that thing he was doing with like, his fins and everything? The dancing thing?” Ann prompted, barely managing to contain herself.  
  
“Yeah, so?” Ryuji huffed.  
  
“That was a-” she cut herself off laughing, but managed to pull it back together after a second or two, taking in a deep breath before saying, “that was a mating display.” The look on Ryuji’s face set both her and Futaba off again.  
  
“A fucking what now?” Ryuji choked out. No way, no fucking way were they for real on this one. “How the hell would you even know that?”  
  
“Okay so like, we have been able to like, cameras and stuff close enough to mer to observe some behavioral stuff. Obviously not a whole lot, cause they do tend to, you know, destroy anything of ours that they find, but we have been able to see stuff like communications of aggression, territoriality, and attraction and holy shit Ryuji, he was coming onto you, like, hard.” Ann explained, losing it at the very end there. Ryuji’s face was burning.  
  
“So mer experience cross-species attraction? How incredible.” Yusuke commented, and Ryuji just flushed even harder because wow that was so not the point right now.  
  
“Actually, technically, mer can’t really be called a different species than us since they’re capable of breeding with humans, and the definition of a species is basically like, capable of interbreeding, so yeah.” Ann piped up, and Ryuji choked on air.  
  
“Wait woah fucking what?! Okay, A, how the shit is that even possible, and B, more importantly, how the everloving fuck do we know that?!” He asked, horrified. Ann’s face twisted into a grimace.  
  
“Well, to answer the first part of your question, we figure that’s just because their biology is similar enough to humans for it to be possible? It only works the one way though; whatever eggs they lay will hatch to be mer only, never human. As for how we know that though, it’s because of some sick fuck a few years back who had a mer as a ‘pet’ and uh… yeah.” Ann replied, scowling once she got to the last part.  
  
“Wait, I thought that was illegal. Aren’t mer listed as an endangered species?” Makoto asked.  
  
“Yes it is and yes they are, but you’ll find that some people with a certain amount of money and a certain high degree of asshole-ness have a tendency to ignore things like that. They only found about it because the guy’s neighbor snitched about some of the other illegal shit he was doing, and when the cops raided the place they found a half-dead mer with two starving pups swimming around in an undersized tank. They arrested the guy, obviously, and tried to help the mer but… the babies were already sick, and the father wasn’t doing well either. None of them survived longer than a week after being rescued.” Ann said, her voice heavy.  
  
“That’s horrible.” Haru said, holding her hands lightly in front of her mouth as she sometimes did when confronted with distressing information.  
  
“Shit…” Ryuji muttered. He himself had seen enough to know full well about how terrible some adults could be, but it still never really ceased to be horrifying. Especially since his traitorous brain had decided to supplement the image of the beautiful mer he’d seen in the other room with the dying one from Ann’s story. Although wait…  
  
“Hey, hold on a minute, you said ‘father’, yeah?” He asked. Ann nodded.  
  
“Yeah, the mer that fucking sicko was keeping as a pet was a male. As far as I know, people have only ever managed to catch like, two female mer. Most have been male.” She replied.  
  
“But then wait, how did… uh…” He started, unsure how exactly to finish that. Ann seemed to know what he was getting at though.  
  
“How did he have kids?” Ann prompted.  
  
“Yeah that.”  
  
“Mer are hermaphroditic.” She replied, then upon seeing the lost look on Ryuji’s face she continued. “That means they essentially have like, both parts. How we classify male vs female is based purely on secondary sex characteristics and the like. Frankly, it’s quite fascinating, as well as much more efficient, given how rarely mer seem to actually interact with each other. Would be kind of a pain if you were trying to keep a species from extinction and half of everyone you came across after wandering alone for the most part was incompatible, yeah?” Ann said, her speech picking up speed as she got excited. The more interested in and enthusiastic about a topic Ann was, the faster she talked, which could be a problem given that her base talking speed was already about mach 5.  
  
“Really? I didn’t know that. You’re right, that it is quite fascinating. What characteristics are used to determine sex?” Makoto asked, and Ann’s face lit up like the city square during a festival.  
  
“Well, for starters you have the obvious stuff, like-”  
  
“Okay, can we change the subject please? There’s been way too much information in the past thirty seconds. I just got out of class, like, an hour or two ago and I’m done learning shit for today, alright?” Ryuji interrupted. As cool as mer undoubtedly were, his interest did not extend to the like, actual science behind it. He liked video games too; didn’t mean he wanted to actually know about how the code worked.  
  
Ann glared at him, and was just opening her mouth when she was interrupted again, this time by Haru.  
  
“Um, everyone, I don’t mean to be rude, but if we are to catch the trains home, we should get going now.” She chimed, and the rest of them all glanced down at the time on their phones.  
  
“Oh shit Haru’s right guys, we’ve gotta get moving! Thanks, Haru!” Ann said, and Haru smiled politely at her.  
  
With the panic that ensued in trying to catch the trains on time, it wasn’t until he was settling in for bed that night that Ryuji flashed back to what Ann had mentioned. Specifically, what Ann had mentioned about the whole ‘mating display’ thing. Just remembering it made Ryuji’s face flush all over again. Surely it was just some kind of mistake, right? There was no way in hell someone that hot, nevermind a member of a different species (screw what Ann said, that was the only way he knew how to describe it) was interested in him.  
  
Though he fell asleep trying to rationalize out how Ann must’ve misread the situation, his subconscious took a much more direct route. His dreams that night were filled with stormy eyes and shining silver scales.  
  
\--------------------------  
Akira was surprised to see the humans leave. On their way out, their leader gave him another wave, which didn’t exactly make sense given the context, but he chose not to dwell on it. He heard their muffled voices on the other side of the door for a few minutes, then nothing.  
  
Suspicious, he waited. Surely that wasn’t all. They hadn’t even done anything other than stare at him before they left. Was he to be a decoration? Though even then the cruelty of humans dictated that he would be toyed with to some degree, not just simply left alone. Yet here he was, unharmed, in a room completely by himself.  
  
‘Well, perhaps not completely unharmed’, the burn in his gills reminded him, but even that pain was not too great. It didn’t make any sense at all, until he considered that perhaps they were just waiting. Yes, that could be it. Perhaps they were satisfied merely with viewing their prize for today, and would begin whatever savagery they had planned in due time.  
  
Akira made a discontented noise. He didn’t like that possibility, as it meant he had no idea when to expect an attack. It could be hours from now, or it could be mere minutes, and he had no way of telling. Normally, this would not have been such an issue, but now he found himself unusually exhausted, likely a result of whatever injury the humans had managed to land on him that got him here in the first place. He needed to rest, but found himself highly resistant to doing so given the uncertainty of his position.  
  
With that in mind he continued waiting. The lack of natural lighting in the space made it impossible for him to tell how much time had actually passed, but after what felt like multiple hours his eyelids grew too heavy for him to hold them open any longer.  
  
Reasoning with himself that he’d always been light enough a sleeper to hopefully wake up should anything happen, Akira slipped into unconsciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sleepy boys.
> 
> Please let me know what you think, if you have constructive criticism I'll gladly take that since I don't know what the fuck I'm doing but yeah. Feedback. Feedback is great. Helps me drag myself through the hell that is final exam season.


	3. What A Douche

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miscommunication occurs once again, but this time proves far less benevolent. (Similar warning to last chapter, in that while nothing explicitly happens "onscreen" as it were, there are implications of depravity that I know can be upsetting to some people)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that Akira is a protagonist that is meant to be malleable, so he doesn't seem to have like, a totally set personality. Like, the whole idea behind him is that he could conceivably do/say anything and it would technically be "in character", and yet somehow he still remains pretty hard to write.

Ryuji had never been the best at controlling his excitement. Or, any of his emotions, really. It was actually kind of a huge recurring problem in his life, but that was beside the point. The point was that it was now 1:34 a.m. and he was wide awake. Sure, he actually had managed to fall asleep, but it was really just hazy, heavy daydreaming (or, night-dreaming technically. What do you call it when you’re not asleep but not awake?), which had lasted only about 30 minutes before the clamoring of his brain had woken him right back up and once he was awake, he was awake.  
  
Sighing, he resigned himself to waiting, which was one of his top three least favorite things to do, but he didn’t see much other choice. Ann said they would go back to see the mer tomorrow, and while 1 a.m. did technically count as tomorrow, he still had several hours before they’d be going. He’d just have to suck it up and lay here for a while.  
  
After what felt like hours of staring blankly at his ceiling, Ryuji finally caved and rolled over to check his phone. Surely there couldn’t be that much time left, could there? The clock read 1:39, and Ryuji felt like breaking something.  
  
In an unprecedented feat of patience, Ryuji managed to wait until 1:45, 6 whole minutes, before he gave in to the shrieking desire in the back of his brain and texted Ann.  
  
“GANGSTA”: ann  
  
“GANGSTA”: ann im dying  
  
A minute or two passed before she replied.  
  
THE HOT ONE: Ryuji for fucks sake it is one in the goddamn morning why are you texting me  
  
“GANGSTA”: ann you know i dont do good with this waiting shit  
  
THE HOT ONE: And exactly what do you think I’ll be able to do about that?  
  
“GANGSTA”: man i dunno, like, is there any chance we could get in early?  
  
THE HOT ONE: Are you shitting me? One. A. M.  
  
THE HOT ONE: One a.m. Ryuji.  
  
THE HOT ONE: No one is going into the aquarium at ONE A.M.  
  
“GANGSTA”: uuuuuuggggghhh. im losing my fucking mind over here!!  
  
THE HOT ONE: You’re gonna lose a lot more than that if you don’t quit texting me  
  
“GANGSTA”: aaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnn  
  
THE HOT ONE: Ryuji if you don’t piss off and let me go back to sleep then not only will you not be allowed to see the mer again but I will also personally come over there and shove your phone down your throat until you choke to death  
  
THE HOT ONE: If you’re that anxious about seeing your fish boyfriend then just watch some documentaries on mer or something  
  
THE HOT ONE: There aren’t a whole lot but a few of the ones that do exist are actually really good, and who knows? Maybe you’ll learn something about the aquatic love of your life  
  
THE HOT ONE: Or maybe you’ll just jack it to blurry ass footage of fish people since you seem to be into that  
  
THE HOT ONE: I don’t care what you do so long as it doesn’t involve bothering me again any time before 8:00  
  
THE HOT ONE: Once it’s 8:00 you can text me all you want but if I get another message from you before that time then your phone is going to get very well acquainted with your esophagus  
  
THE HOT ONE: Good night.  
  
Ryuji sighed. A few unfortunate experiences with a sleep deprived Ann had taught him better than to push his luck, so he despite his indignance at her insults, he decided against retorting.  
  
He glared at his phone screen for another minute or so before deciding to take her up on her suggestion, rude as it may have been, and watch some documentaries about mer. No, not for masturbation purposes, (dear god he was going to have to get her back for that one), but because yeah, it might be somewhat interesting to learn a little more about mer. Besides, wasn’t like he had anything better to do with his time.  
  
Clicking on the first video that popped up, Ryuji sighed and braced himself for several educational hours of waiting.  
  
\------------------------------  
  
Akira wasn’t sure how long he slept before he was jolted awake by the sound of the door opening. If the amount of fatigue he still felt was any hint, then it hadn’t been long, but he was nonetheless very glad to be awake right now, since the idea of actually being unconscious while there were humans nearby was about the single most terrifying thing he could think of, right up there with “being unconscious with an angry female mer nearby” or “being unconscious with a hungry shark nearby”, etc. Most of his fears seemed to involve a lack of consciousness and a nearby hostile.  
  
He feigned sleep, quickly deciding that it was best the human’s not know he was awake, at least for the time being. If they thought he was awake, then they might try to actually knock him out, and there was no scenario in which that ended well for him.  
  
Through barely cracked eyelids, he watched as that same artificial light spread across the floor from the opened door, with it coming two human figures; both presumably male, and both considerably older looking than the last group of humans he’d seen. The two approached his tank, talking amongst themselves and Akira’s stomach twisted. He’d known they were going to mess with him, it was inevitable, but that hadn’t stopped a foolish hope that maybe they were here for something else from growing within his mind. He desperately wanted them to go away, to just leave him alone, but of course that was asking too much.  
  
He heard the top of his tank being slid open, and the voiced of the two humans grew louder, not helping at all with his budding anxiety problem. Akira focused on keeping his breathing as level as possible; any change and they’d surely notice and then that was the end. He tried to listen closer to what they were saying, hoping that that information would somehow give him some kind of edge in the situation. Akira was a more shallow-water type of mer, body accustomed to warm waters and sunning himself above the surface of the sea. As a result, he’d spent a lot of time near piers and docks where humans flocked, and though he’d never been seen he’d listened to their babbles, and thus picked up a fair, though limited, understanding of their language. If he could at least get a general idea of what these two were talking about, maybe that’d somehow help him. He listened.  
  
“I don’t know, sir, are you sure that it’s asleep? Because I would really prefer not to lose a limb or anything,” The first human said, weariness evident in his tone.  
  
“Well it hasn’t moved at all since we got here. Trust me, if that thing were awake, there’s no way it would’ve let us get this close. It’s exhausted; it’s out cold.” The second replied, and Akira repressed a sigh of relief. Good, they were convinced he was asleep, that worked out greatly in his favor.  
  
A couple moments passed where he just heard grumbling and rustling from above him. Though curious, he didn’t dare look up, so Akira was left imagining what exactly was happening. None of the images his mind conjured up were pleasant.  
  
A splash was heard, and he suppressed a jolt at the feeling of something slipping under him. Through tiny cracks in his eyelids he saw that the two humans had dove into the tank with him, clad in odd suits that made them look both bizzare and frightening, and had wedged some sort of fabric between him and the floor of the tank. They began lifting him up towards the surface of the water and Akira redoubled his efforts to remain calm.  
  
The humans rose up out of the water and onto a platform at the top of the tank, taking him with them.  
  
_Play dead play dead play dead play dead ___  
  
They removed their masks and the strange contraptions of their feet, placing them to the side.  
  
_Play dead play dead play dead ___  
  
One of them, the one on the right, began to reach for him,  
  
_Play dead play dead play dead ___  
  
His hand touched Akira’s side, right by his gills,  
  
_Play dead play dead play dead ___  
  
He remarked something to his companion, something that Akira couldn’t hear over his own panic as the human’s hand began to move lower, down towards his tail,  
  
_PLAY DEAD PLAY DEAD PLAY DEAD ___  
  
Making contact first with the sparse silver scales at the end of his torso and then with those of his tail,  
  
_PLAYDEADPLAYDEADPLAYDEAD ___  
  
The human’s hand touched up against one of his delicate tail fins, and Akira finally panicked.  
  
An ear-splitting shriek filled the air, one he hadn’t realized he was capable of making, as his tail whipped up and slapped the offending human away as hard as possible. Akira didn’t stop to see what happened to the man as he dove back into the water, making a beeline for bottom back corner, as far away as possible from the two humans, before curling himself into as small a ball as he could and staring up at the threats.  
  
Surprised shouts and expletives had sounded after his sudden outburst, and the two humans were now speaking rapidly, but Akira couldn’t understand anything over the terrified buzzing of his own mind. His gills expanded and deflated rapidly, stinging with each insufficient breath, but he barely felt it.  
  
A mer’s decorative tail fins were an area of the body that were both very sensitive and very private. The only other person to ever touch those fins was a mate; the act was inherently as intimate as kissing, maybe even more so. The fragility of the fins themselves, combined with their proximity to a mer’s… well, reproductive organs, made it so that one only trusted their partner to make contact with the delicate structures. It was an expression of love, and even more of desire, so the implications of the human touching those meant that… meant that they planned to… meant…  
  
A pained, keening whine escaped Akira’s throat, and then another, until he kept uncontrollably repeating the pitiful sound. It was instinct, he couldn’t help it; in the ocean, the sound was meant to signal any nearby mer of another’s distress, and hopefully summon somebody to the distressed mer’s side to help, the closest human equivalent likely being crying. Here though, the sound just echoed off the glass walls of his tank, harshly reminding him that he was alone, that he could cry and scream to his heart’s content, but no one would be there to help him.  
  
Akira felt his own claws sink into the flesh of his arms, but the pain didn’t register. If anything, he welcomed it as a physical distraction from the mental chaos that echoed around his skull. He normally considered himself to be a pretty composed person, even prided himself on his ability to remain calm in bad situations, but even the most collected person had their limits. He was quite literally out of his element, apparently injured, hungry, scared, and an unknown human had just touched him in a way that implied his worst nightmares were likely about to become a reality. This time there was no amount of logical analysis that would be able to make a dent in his natural instincts, no matter how disadvantageous said instincts might be.  
  
One of the humans, the one who hadn’t gotten hit with his tail, dove back down into the tank and swam towards him, arms held out in what was probably supposed to be a placating gesture but Akira was having none of it. He contorted his face into the most violent expression he could muster and hissed at the human, flaring his fins out aggressively and baring every single one of his deadly sharp teeth in warning. No way. He knew that there was no way he’d win here; even if he managed to kill one human, another would show up and kill him anyway but he decided he was fine with that. The goal wasn’t necessarily to survive anymore, but to cause as much damage as possible. He’d rather they kill him than enact the depravity they seemed to have in mind.  
  
Foolishly, the human proceeded towards him, hesitating for only a moment before continuing. Well, it’s not as though he wasn’t warned. The moment he swam within range Akira ripped his claws out of the burrows they’d been digging in his skin and slashed at the human’s chest, carving three shallow lines through the suit and across the flesh, bringing forth a splash of red in the otherwise clear water. He would’ve cut deeper, to, had the human not seemed to suddenly regain intelligence and back away at the sight of his claws.  
  
The human retreated quickly back to the surface of the water, climbing up and out onto the platform Akira had recently fled, trails of blood following his movement. Akira hissed again, coiling even further into himself and bracing for the retribution that was sure to come.  
  
\--------------------------  
  
Seven hours passed in what felt like thirty years, but finally, Ryuji found himself once again standing in front of the aquarium’s huge glass doors. Given that the place opened at 9, they were the only people present, and the lack of activity in such a normally bustling area gave off kind of an eerie vibe.  
  
Ann was there, of course, looking slightly disgruntled and glaring at Ryuji, clearly having not forgotten about his late-night/very-early-morning disturbance. Makoto stood next to her, as polished as ever, reading through something on her phone. Yusuke was a few feet away from the rest of them, sketching the shoreline that sat so close to the building. Futaba had arrived just a few moments after Ryuji, and Haru was nowhere to be seen.  
  
“Alright, you guys ready to go?” Ann asked as she dug through her purse, finally managing to locate and pull out her ID, which doubled as a keycard for the areas of the aquarium that were only accessible to employees.  
  
“Shouldn’t we wait for Haru?” Makoto asked, glancing up from her phone screen.  
  
“Oh yeah, about that, bad news; Haru can’t make it. Her dad’s being a dick again.” Futaba piped up. They all turned to look at her; even Yusuke paused his sketching to glance over.  
  
“What do you mean?” Makoto asked. Futaba grimaced.  
  
“Yeah, apparently her dad got real pissy about her coming home late last night and essentially grounded her. She’d under house arrest until further notice.” Ann winced. Clearly she felt at least partially responsible for keeping Haru out so late, and therefore getting her punished, but Ryuji was pretty sure Haru would’ve been screwed either way.  
  
The way her dad was, it wasn’t even actually about her coming home late, it was about him wanting to feel like he had power over somebody, and his daughter being the easiest target. Ryuji had some prior experience with asshole dads, and though Haru’s father was a different shade of abusive than his own had been, they were much more similar than they were different, and he could recognize some of the common features that came with shitty parents, unreasonable punishment being a popular one.  
  
“Oh god, that sucks. Tell Haru I’m super sorry if you get a chance.” Ann said. “Well, I guess if she can’t make it, then that means we’re all here, so let’s just go then.” Ann unlocked the doors and Ryuji followed after her eagerly. Most of the stuff he’d learned while watching those stupid documentaries had just gone in one ear and out the other (the general Ryuji learning experience), but it had had the effect of getting him even more hyped up to see the mer again. The mer shown in the documentaries were all pretty incredible, but none anywhere even close to being as pretty as the one he’d met yesterday, just further serving to convince him that this one was special. The memory of the supposed “mating display” flashed through his mind and he blushed. He was so focused on the thoughts of dancing fins and shining scales that he failed to notice when Ann stopped abruptly in front of him, instead plowing straight into her and almost toppling the both of them to the ground.  
  
“Augh, Ann, what the fuck?” He grumbled. Ann didn’t respond, instead staring at a text that’d apparently just been sent to her.  
  
“Oh shit.” She said, before beginning to jog down the hallway at a much faster pace.  
  
“What, what is it?” Ryuji asked, intrigued. A quick glance around at everyone else’s faces indicated that they didn’t have much of a clue either.  
  
“I just got a text from one of the researcher’s here, one of the guys assigned to checking up on the mer and all that; apparently he’s gone berserk.” Ann called back, not breaking her pace.  
  
“Who, the science guy?” Ryuji asked.  
  
“No, the mer. The mer’s gone nuts.” She replied.  
  
“What? But he seemed so… chill, yesterday.” Ryuji said, confused.  
  
“Yeah, well, apparently that didn’t last.” Ann said.  
  
A couple turns later and they stood at the metal doors to the mer’s room. A commotion could be heard from inside, and Ann glanced at them all nervously before she swiped her card through the lock, causing the doors to slide open and reveal a chaotic scene.  
  
Two scientists sat perched on a platform at the top of the tank that Ryuji hadn’t noticed yesterday. One had the beginnings of a huge bruise across the side of his face, a small trickle of blood tracing down from his temple, and the other had a bandage wrapped around his chest. The mer sat curled in on himself in a corner at the bottom of the tank, making some terrible wailing noise that Ryuji found viscerally upsetting. The scientists looked up when they entered the room.  
  
“Oh, Takamaki, now’s probably not a good time for your little field trip; this thing’s gone wild.” The man with the bandages said, grimacing.  
  
“Well what the fuck did you do to him?” Ryuji blurted out.  
  
“I… I beg your pardon?” The man responded, seeming more than a little miffed. Ryuji couldn’t bring himself to care; he was too pissed off. Here these guys were acting as if they were victims of a senseless rampage, while they’d clearly done something to upset the mer badly enough that he lashed out. Sure, he had no concrete evidence that that was what happened, but something about the mer’s posture and the hitching whine he kept emitting told Ryuji that this was a provoked response, not just a random outburst.  
  
“Listen to him, man, he’s clearly freaking out. Something upset him, and I’m fairly sure it was something related to at least one of you.” Ryuji said. He knew he was being rude but it didn’t matter. He felt a strange sense of protectiveness over the mer; something about that sound made him want to beat the rest of the world away with a stick and go comfort the silver-scaled boy, and he planned to do so to the best of his ability, stick (maybe) not included.  
  
“We didn’t _do _anything; we didn’t have to. It’s a mer, mer are always violent.” The bandaged man replied, sounding indignant. Ryuji scoffed.__  
  
“Well, when _we _came to check him out yesterday he seemed perfectly calm, so…” he trailed off, the implication of his words clearly understood by both scientists. The bandaged one scowled, though the bruised one looked as if he was considering something.__  
  
“Fine, if an intern and her juvenile friends think they can handle an aggressive animal better than a trained professional, then be my guest.” The bandaged one huffed, stalking out of the room with the other man trailing behind him. Ryuji made a rude gesture at their backs as the doors slid shut after them, and Ann stuck out her tongue.  
  
“Ugh, god, sorry about that. That was Takenaka, and yes, he is always that much of a dick. Guy’s got the personality of a sea urchin, but at least those are actually valuable to their ecosystems.” Ann huffed. Oh, so that was Takenaka; Ann had sent multiple texts to the group chat complaining about someone she worked with under that same name, and often a variety of other, much more colorful titles, but she’d still failed to fully describe how unpleasant he was in person.  
  
Ryuji wandered over to the staircase leading up to the platform that the scientists had been sitting on. The mer had gone silent, much to his relief, but still remained coiled up in a ball at the bottom corner of his tank. Ryuji climbed up the staircase. Sitting atop the platform, he could see down into the tank, the distortion caused by the ripples on the water’s surface transforming the mer into little more than colorful blotches of black, red, white, and silver. He glanced out at the rest of the room lazily, wondering if there was anything else he’d failed to notice yesterday.  
  
Turns out, his tunnel vision had been a lot more severe than expected. Whole computer monitors and medical cabinets had escaped his sight, drowned out by his sole focus on the stunning mer in the tank. He heard Ann gasp, and then a splash, coming from right in front of him. He turned his head and found himself staring straight into stormy grey eyes, no more than six or so inches away from his face. For the second time in as many days, Ryuji forgot how to breathe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have an English paper due Monday. It is currently Saturday, almost 19:00. I have a huge thing tomorrow that will take up most of the day. The paper is worth an astronomical amount of points. I still have research I've yet to do for the paper. I do not even have a draft of the paper done yet. What I do have written is likely to require a vast amount of editing and is also probably totally off the mark. I should be working on that paper. Guess what I'm not doing?
> 
> Please give feedback. Please, convince me that people do read and actually at least somewhat like this thing, and that therefore I didn't completely waste my time.


	4. Giant, Wet Cat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Note: Ryuji is a professional dingus, and the mer he interacts with is a remarkably calm one. Please, for the sake of your health, safety, and limb count; don't try this one at home, kids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? Another chapter? And it HASN'T been months??? Somebody alert the media reality's gone topsy turvy!

Seconds seemed to stretch on for eternity as Akira waited for the humans to enact their violence. He held out hope that they’d at least kill him quickly, but deep down he knew that it was likely to be a long and painful process. Humans weren’t known for their mercy. His treacherous mind began running through all the various possibilities of what they might do to him. Would they flay him like a common fish? Would they rip off his fins and pluck out his scales then leave him to bleed to death? Perhaps they would tear him open from the gills. Phantom pains erupted all over his body as he imagined each horrible scenario, and he curled even tighter into himself, trying to present as small a target as possible, despite knowing that it would ultimately prove useless.  
  
Akira wanted to hide, to disappear, to duck beneath the rocks or sink into the sand where he’d be invisible, untouchable, _safe _. The barrenness of the tank seemed to close in on him; he was exposed, vulnerable, there was nowhere for him to escape the sight of his predators, his captors, his soon-to-be killers. He hated feeling so visible, so unprotected, but there was nowhere he could go, nothing he could do but coil up in a ball and hope, foolishly, that he’d somehow become so small that they wouldn’t be able to see him anymore.__  
  
All the while, that terrible wailing noise kept coming from his throat, an instinctual call for help that he could control no more than his own heartbeat. He knew it was pointless, he knew that no one would come to his aid, just as much as he knew that making himself smaller would never make him invisible, but he couldn’t help doing it anyway,  
  
The noise proved so loud that it drowned out the sound of the door sliding open, and indeed Akira was so wrapped up in his own panic that he failed to notice the entrance of the kids from yesterday. A brash, angry sounding voice sliced through his consciousness and he froze. No way…  
  
Hardly daring to believe it, Akira opened his eyes. Sure enough, there stood the blond boy he’d shown off for, rage evident in his entire being, arguing with the two adult humans who had come after him. Akira’s cry died in his throat, his mouth agape, and he watched incredulously as the two got up and left. They actually _left _. He couldn’t believe it; the loud boy had not only managed to frighten off a pair of adults, but had apparently done it… for him.__  
  
It made no sense. Why on earth would this human bother to protect him? What did he possibly get out of this? Unless……. had Akira’s plan worked?? Had he actually managed to win a protector out of the intimidating leader? Had his mating display (oh god don’t think about that) actually somehow convinced the blond that he was worth keeping around? When he considered it, it made sense, but an uncomfortable emotion began churning up in his stomach at the thought.  
  
See, when he’d initially had the idea of trying to manipulate the boy into liking him enough to spare him, that had been exactly what he planned on doing; manipulating him. Akira fully intended simply to use the loud human as means of saving his own skin. He’d had no interest whatsoever in the guy as anything other than a convenient tool of his own self interest, and would gladly have betrayed him the second he saw fit. Now though… now he wasn’t so sure.  
  
A mer responding to the cry of another was a big deal. Normally, most mer wouldn’t bother trying to save anyone who wasn’t a podmate, since putting themselves in danger for someone they had no connection with was an inherently stupid thing to do. This was yet another one of the countless reasons why it was unwise for mer to be without a pod; when they were alone, they were alone, and the ocean was a hard place try and go solo. For a mer to try and save someone they had no connection to was almost unheard of, but in the few cases where it did occur, it was a serious matter. The bond of loyalty that formed between the two involved was a strong one, one that lasted until death, identical to the bond held between podmates. Indeed, a mer with a pod saving a lone mer was the most common way that pods would integrate new members, though that was also an incredibly rare occasion.  
  
Akira never had a pod. Mer typically laid only one or two eggs at a time, but members of the same pod often laid eggs around the same time as each other, so that when the baby mer hatched, they usually hatched together. It was rare for a mer to raise their child longer than the time it took to wean them, but they didn’t tend to need much more than that. So when the parents left, the young pod thrived on its own.  
  
Akira, however, had been a statistical oddity, one of the few unfortunate, and often ill-fated mer to have both been laid as a single egg and then abandoned. He’d hatched on his own; a tiny, weak little thing left to fend for itself in a vast and uncaring ocean. While mer didn’t technically have a _need _to be fed from their parent’s milk, (because they were, in fact, mammals, as strange as that may seem), their odds of survival weren’t terribly great without it; it was possible, but just barely so. In an incredible stroke of luck, however, he’d hatched in an area with abundant food and few predators, meaning that even a defenseless hatchling could survive with little issue. Deep down, part of him had always hoped that this was on purpose, that his parent, (or parents, perhaps), had cared about him enough to abandon him in a place where he’d at least stand some chance of survival. He knew it was a stretch, but he still chose to believe it, largely because the alternative was to accept that he’d been completely disregarded and unwanted, which was a depressing thing to think about.__  
  
Mer were selectively social creatures; those in a pod would rarely, if ever, seek socialization outside of their pod, (with the potential exception of finding a mate), and were completely content with the four or five others that they knew as their sole source of interaction. This worked for them, because mer were designed around the idea of a pod; once they had one, they didn’t need anything else. Solo mer, however, tended to suffer from intense loneliness and depression, deprived of the comfort and security that came with having a pod. Akira was better off than most in his situation, more content with his solo status than the typical mer might be, but he was still lonely. He suspected that this might have been why he’d spent so much time around the human’s docks; even though they weren’t mer, and even though they were naturally his enemies, he still felt somewhat comforted by the sounds and presence of others, no matter who or what they might be.  
  
Akira had resigned himself to being alone for the rest of his life; mer not born into a pod almost never became a part of one. He’d resigned himself to the fact that if and when he called for help, there’d be no one there to save him. But that hadn’t been true. Despite all logic, despite all odds, a human, of all creatures a _human _, had not only heard his cry but responded to it, defending him from his attackers, even though the boy stood nothing to gain from it. He couldn’t just ignore that. Like it or not, (and the logical part of his brain most certainly did not like it), there was no way he could betray him now. Akira felt a powerful, instinctual bond of loyalty form between him and the loud human boy, and made a decision he would never have made under any other circumstances; he approached.__  
  
The boy was sitting atop the platform that the two adults had vacated, staring idly around the room, making no attempts to grab at or harm Akira. He was leaving the mer alone, something that just further boosted Akira’s admiration for him. This boy had just saved his life, it would have been perfectly reasonable, if not expected, for him to be demanding something in return and yet he did nothing of the sort. No one had ever given Akira the time of day, never mind treated him with what appeared to be selfless kindness, all from a human. He found himself filled with a gratitude that needed to be expressed, no matter what the potential consequences may be.  
  
Without allowing time to psych himself out, Akira swam up towards the platform, the instincts that shrieked at him to get away and hide drowned out by the instincts compelling him to give his thanks to the one he was now bonded to. He broke the surface, the water on his skin chilling in the artificial breeze that ran through the room, and leaned forward. One of the girls, the fast-speaking one, gasped loudly, and the blond boy whipped his head around to face Akira.  
  
Surprise was obvious on his face, as well as a bit of that same fascination from yesterday, but no hostility or violent intent displayed itself anywhere in his features. Good. Akira hoisted himself up out of the water so that his entire body rested on the platform and then, with more than a little bit of apprehension, lowered himself down to lay his head on the boy’s legs. He maintained eye contact with the blond the entire time, quietly noting how the boy’s face had gone bright red, before he slowly slid his eyes shut and waited.  
  
This was to be the moment of truth. By making himself vulnerable to the boy he had presented him with a choice; if he so desired, he could kill Akira right now with no trouble at all. Akira knew this, in fact, it was why he had done it; he was both indebted and loyally bound to this human now, and if the human wished him dead then it was only fair. He decided he’d be content to die at the hands of the one person to show him kindness, and he had a feeling that if the boy did choose to kill him, he’d still be merciful and quick about it, something that Akira knew wouldn’t happen otherwise.  
  
He hummed softly. The human was very warm. He’d known in theory that humans tended to run hotter than mer did, but he still hadn’t expected this. ‘You know, if I do actually die here’, he thought to himself, ‘at least I’ll be happy.’  
  
\-------------------------------  
  
‘Holy shit I’m an idiot I’m an idiot I’m a FUCKING idiot!’ Ryuji thought, his heart slamming against his ribs. What the fuck had he been thinking? He’d seen the injuries on the two scientists, he’d known that mer as a species had a tendency to try and freaking eat people, and yet, like a dumbass, he’d climbed right up to the opening of the mer’s tank, and now he was gonna get munched.  
  
In spite of his terror, the mer still remained the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, and a small part in the back of his mind remarked that ‘well, if I’m about to die, at least I’m gonna die happy’. Stormy grey eyes stared directly into his as the mer lifted himself up out of the water with somewhat alarming speed, curling his long silver tail around to fit on the platform, the very tips of his tailfin almost brushing up against Ryuji’s back. Without breaking eye contact, the mer lowered down and… laid on him?  
  
Ryuji watched in stunned, baffled silence as the black haired boy rested his head just above his knees and slowly closed his eyes, a peaceful expression on his marble-like face. Ryuji could practically picture a spinning circle, the universal symbol for “buffering, please wait”, hovering above his own head.  
  
“Ann, what the fuck is he doing?” He whisper-shouted.  
  
“I-I honestly have no idea.” Ann whisper-shouted back. The entire group looked dumbfounded, all frozen in place, as if worried that a sudden sound or movement from any of them might cause the mer to freak and take a sizeable bit out of Ryuji. Frankly, he had the same concern.  
  
The mer let out a soft hum and gently nuzzled his face against Ryuji’s legs, shifting his shoulders around a little to get more comfortable. In his typical sort of fashion, Ryuji found himself acting before thinking, and placed his hand on the mer’s head. The boy stiffened slightly beneath him, and Ryuji froze, cursing himself and waiting for the bite to come, but once again he wound up baffled as the mer not only relaxed, but leaned slightly into his touch, humming quietly again.  
  
‘What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck’ Ryuji chanted silently. He blindly started doing the only thing he could think of; started petting. He heard someone, likely Ann, make a strangled sound from below, and mentally agreed with notion of “oh my god what the hell are you doing” that she communicated, but kept going anyway. The mer’s hair was wet, obviously, but soft nonetheless.  
  
He could practically see the headlines now; “Dumb, dumb, idiot teenager ripped to shreds at local aquarium after trying to pet mer”. He’d be the laughingstock of the whole country. People around the nation would gossip about him; he’d be cited as evidence that the human race was collectively growing dumber; everyone would say that he was an absolute moron who totally deserved it. Hell, he’d agree with that. He’d done some seriously stupid shit in his lifetime, but petting a mer was probably his worst thing yet, as well as likely his last. He waited for the snap of teeth or swipe of claws to take him away from this mortal coil, and instead was met with… holy fucking shit was that _purring _??__  
  
Sweet Jesus tap-dancing Christ on a bicycle, the mer was purring. The loud, low rumbling sound was much too similar to that of a cat’s to be interpreted as anything else, and that combined with the contented expression on the mer’s face left little doubt as to what was going on in fish-boy central over here. A brief glance out of the corner of his eye (he really didn’t feel it was a good idea to look away from the mer right now), revealed that Ann had whipped her phone out and appeared to be recording. A sarcastic voice in the back of his head cited Ann’s earlier “no phones” conversation, but he knew that what she was doing was necessary, since absolutely no one would ever believe this without evidence. Hell, he was directly involved and he still didn’t really believe it.  
  
The mer shifted position, scooting closer so that most of his torso now lay on Ryuji’s legs, his face resting on his thighs. Pale arms decorated with bright red fins wrapped themselves loosely around Ryuji’s waist in a sort of hug, and the mer adjusted his head to look up at him, sleepy grey eyes staring into startled brown ones. With more of the mer’s body in direct contact with him, Ryuji could now feel the purring as much as he could hear it, a low rumble echoing in his bones as stormy eyes blinked slowly up at him, a soft smile on that pale, pretty face.  
  
Ryuji grinned back, nervously. He really wasn’t sure what to make of the situation. Was he upset about it? Fuck no. In fact, having a gorgeous guy snuggle up to him was arguably one of the greatest moments of his goddamn life. He was just… very confused. His hand, which had been moving this entire time seemingly of its own accord, drifted over to lightly scratch behind the mer’s left ear-fin, drawing a soft “mm” noise out of the mer as his eyes contentedly slid shut once more. The very end of his silver tail, down to the bright red fin, lazily flicked, reminding Ryuji very strongly of a feline all over again. Futaba seemed to be having the same thought, as he heard her not-so-quietly whisper from down below;  
  
“Holy shit, he’s like a giant, wet cat!” Well, she certainly wasn’t wrong.  
  
The mer’s eyes slowly opened again, a short, sweet trilling sound emitting from his chest alongside the now-ambient purring once he locked gaze with Ryuji. The flood of butterflies that sent through Ryuji’s torso felt like a tsunami.  
  
“Uh, h-hi there!” He stuttered out. He wasn’t sure why he said it, he just felt like he needed to say something. The mer certainly seemed to appreciate it at least, letting out that same trill as his smile grew wider.  
  
“He-llo.” A smooth voice replied back. Ryuji’s heart stopped. Holy fucking shit balls did he just _talk _?__  
  
“Sorry, what was that?” He squeaked out. No way. No freakin way.  
  
“He-llo.” The mer repeated. Sweet jesus that voice did things to his stomach. But yeah, okay, add to the list of batshit crazy realizations for today; the mer could talk. The way he paused and drew out the first syllable of the word indicated that this definitely didn’t come naturally to him, there was some effort involved, but still… holy fuck!!  
  
He heard Ann and Makoto chattering in a whisper-shout to each other, but didn’t bother trying to discern what they were actually saying. Yusuke had been sketching furiously for at least two minutes now (you had to hand it to that guy, nothing really seemed to faze him), and Futaba had joined Ann in recording the whole thing.  
  
“Uh… you can, you can talk?” He stuttered out. Wow he sure was managing to make himself look like a dipshit today. Of course the one time he’s got a hot guy quite literally all over him is the one time that his brain decides to not only take a vacation, but to lay waste to any and all of the autopilot functions that usually sustained him while it was out (which was, as both his teachers and his friends could attest, quite often).  
  
“A… li-ttle… yes.” The mer responded. His speech followed the same pattern it had established before; heavy pauses between syllables, and a drawn out stress on one particular syllable in a word that had more than one, in this case the ‘li’ in ‘little’.  
  
“Okay, uh, wow, um,” sweet baby jesus why couldn’t he freakin _talk _?? “My, my names Ryuji.” He stumbled, before, (like an idiot), pointing to himself and saying “Ry-u-ji”, attempting somewhat to mimic the mer’s speech.__  
  
“Ry-u-ji?” The mer responded, drawing out the ‘u’ sound as he spoke. Hooooly _shit _, that voice saying his name was likely going to haunt his dreams for weeks to come. Good god, did all mer sound like that? Because if they did then he was pretty damn sure he’d just figured out the origins for the siren myth. If he’d heard that voice calling his name, you bet your ass he’d go barreling towards it, danger be damned.__  
  
“Yup, that’s me, Ryuji!” He responded. Why the fuck did he say that? He didn’t have to say that! It just made him look dumb! Stupid!  
  
The mer smiled, trilling slightly. “Ry-u-ji,” he repeated, and okay there brain, think pure thoughts. Puuuure thoughts.  
  
“A-ki-ra,” the mer said, pointing at himself with his right hand. Again, he drew out the second syllable of the name, almost like singing.  
  
“Akira? Your name’s Akira?” Ryuji asked. Again, stupid thing to say, but that seemed to be his m/o for today.  
  
“A-ki-ra,” the mer, Akira, repeated, sounding rather pleased.  
  
“Well then, uh, hi there Akira!” Ryuji said. Good god there were two of his friends filming this could he please start looking like less of an idiot?  
  
“He-llo… Ry-u-ji,” Akira said back, before gently butting his head against Ryuji’s hand. Oh, right. At some point he’d stopped petting, and it seemed Akira wasn’t terribly pleased with that. He resumed scratching behind the bright red ear-fin, and Akira relaxed on top of him, eyes sliding shut as his purr started back up again.  
  
“Alright, I am so showing this shit to Takenaka. “Aggressive animal” my ass.” Ann muttered from down below, a note of smug triumph in her voice. Ryuji couldn’t help but smirk at the thought of that stuck-up asshole from before being confronted with evidence that yeah, he clearly did fuck up in handling the mer. The specifics of how were still unknown, but all signs seemed to point towards Akira being a friggin marshmallow, so clearly something had to have gone terribly wrong.  
  
\--------------------------  
  
Akira rested his head on the human’s legs and waited. He heard the boy say something, then a reply from what sounded like the fast-talking girl, but he didn’t bother trying to piece together what they said. He shifted slightly, nuzzling his face into the human’s legs as he did so, humming quietly in an expression of contentment. As it turned out, humans were surprisingly comfortable.  
  
The boy’s hand came to rest on his head, and Akira couldn’t stop himself from tensing up instinctually, bracing himself for the killing blow, but it never came. His hand was just… laying there. So did he have no intention of ending him? It would certainly appear that way. Akira hummed again, allowing the tension to flood out from his body as he leaned into the contact. The human’s hand began to move in slow, gentle strokes through his hair and _ooohhh that felt really nice _. For the first time in as long as he could remember, Akira felt himself begin to purr.__  
  
Despite the terrible circumstances; despite being injured and confused and tired and scared, he found himself in that moment to be both relaxed and happy. This human was clearly different; any other would surely not have bothered to defend him without getting anything from the exchange, and not only that but he showed Akira kindness, something his life had been pretty much devoid of until this point. That and this human was warm. Very warm. And comfortable. And the petting felt wonderful.  
  
Akira scooted up closer, pulling himself forward so that basically his entire torso lay on the boy’s legs, loosely wrapping his arms around his waist and opening his eyes to look up at him. Blessed spirits, humans really had no right to be this comfy. The boy looked down at him, big brown eyes staring straight into his as he grinned at Akira, something that made the mer’s gills flutter (metaphorically speaking of course; gills couldn’t actually flutter, and even if they could, Akira wasn’t terribly big on trying to move that part of his body right now, as the sting was still acute enough to be noticeable).  
  
His hand moved behind Akira’s ear-fin and began to scratch lightly, which felt absolutely _fantastic _. His eyes slid shut in contentment as his tail-fin flicked lazily, an action that was typically part of the fidgeting he did before falling asleep, something he was beginning to seriously consider doing. He was still tired, after all, and now he was in a position of warmth and safety, and the gentle petting of the human boy was slowly beginning to lull him into a sleepier and sleepier state.__  
  
One of the other humans made a noise, probably saying something to the human boy, but Akira didn’t bother trying to translate it. Instead, he opened his eyes again, unable to help the happy trill he let out upon locking gaze with the human. There was just… something about the way he looked at him that gave Akira a pleased, buzzing feeling in his chest. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it felt good nonetheless.  
  
The human boy said something to Akira, greeted him from the sound of it, and so Akira responded. The human’s language was… difficult for him to pronounce. Mer’s speech consisted largely of short, sharp bursts, whereas humans sounded low and clunky. The foreign sounds dragged across his tongue, but he tried his best anyway.  
  
“He-llo”, he replied, well aware of the fact that he had likely butchered the word, but unable to do much in that regard. The human looked stunned.  
  
“Sorry, what was that?” He was asking him to repeat himself. Damn, he knew he’d messed that up.  
  
“He-llo”, Akira tried again, internally wincing at how slow and breathy he sounded.  
  
“Uh… you can, you can talk?” The human sputtered out. Oh, okay, good, so he did understand what Akira was saying. That, or he at least understood the idea behind what Akira was trying to do.  
  
“A… li-ttle… yes,” Akira replied, praying to the spirits that he’d at least been somewhat understandable with that.  
  
“Okay, uh, wow, um… my, my name’s Ryuji.” The human boy said. He was… introducing himself? Akira’s suspicions were confirmed when the boy pointed to himself and repeated, much more slowly this time, “Ry-u-ji”. Ah, so that was his name?  
  
“Ry-u-ji?” Akira asked. He wanted to be sure.  
  
“Yup, that’s me, Ryuji,” The human, Ryuji, replied. Oh, excellent.  
  
“Ry-u-ji!” Akira repeated, deciding he quite liked the way that name sounded. “A-ki-ra”, he said, and pointed to his chest It was only fitting that he introduce himself as well.  
  
“Akira? Your name’s Akira?” Ryuji asked. A flood of… something, filled Akira’s chest at the sound of the boy speaking his name. He quite liked it.  
  
“A-ki-ra!” He repeated, proudly.  
  
“Well then, uh, hi there, Akira!” Ryuji said. Odd. Hadn’t he just greeted him? Perhaps it was a human custom to greet twice? Oh well, he wasn’t complaining.  
  
“He-llo… Ry-u-ji!” Akira responded, smiling. Huh, that actually felt pretty nice. Maybe the humans were onto something with that. And speaking of feeling really nice, Ryuji seemed to have stopped petting him at some point, which Akira wasn’t terribly pleased about. Impatiently, he butted his head against Ryuji’s hand, prompting him to continue with his ministrations. Much to Akira’s delight, he obliged, resuming his scratch behind Akira’s ear-fin and _ohh yeah, that’s the spot _. Akira begun purring once more, relaxing atop Ryuji’s legs in a big puddle of mer-jelly as he slid his eyes shut once more.__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't get used to this kind of update speed; this was a glitch in the systems for me to have actually had the energy to crank this out in such a relatively short time. But lemme tell ya; a huge part of that energy, if not mostly all of it, came from the support of y'all like, seriously, you guys were crazy amazing and it motivates me like nothing else (except perhaps the last-minute procrastination panic that gets me to do anything ever). Seriously, I'm so glad you guys seem to like this, I hope you keep liking it, and I hope I can do good enough for y'all. Please keep commenting like you did last time, it's incredible, and I love you guys.


	5. What In The Hell Are You Kids Doing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In retrospect, they probably should've remembered that he does in fact, work here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a tumblr now; psychodelic-insomnomaniac.tumblr.com so y'all can talk to me there if ya want.

Sojiro Sakura’s day had been an exhausting one, and it wasn’t even noon yet. New rescues always came with a lot of extra work, but this was insane. Granted, it was only logical that an injured mer would require a lot more to deal with than your average turtle with its shell stuck in a plastic ring, but even then the amount of bullshit he was being forced to put up with was just plain ridiculous. If he’d have known how much trouble this stupid fish was going to be when his team had rushed him in yesterday, he would’ve just left him. Well, okay, no he wouldn’t have, but still.  
  
The first of Sojiro’s problems came from having to deal with the moron who’d caused this whole mess in the first place; ever since they’d bought the mer in this guy had been hounding them, trying to argue that he had some claim over the mer since he’d “caught him”. First of all, ‘claim’ meant nothing, since owning a mer was (rightfully) illegal, and second, even if it wasn’t illegal, that wouldn’t change the fact that illegally fishing in conservatory protected waters and just so happening to nearly choke a mer to death with a combination of your net and utter incompetence does not, in fact, give you any ‘claim’ to said creature. The only thing it gives you ‘claim’ to is a number of hefty fines for trespassing, illegally fishing, harming an endangered species, and being an obnoxious half-wit. That last one unfortunately wasn’t actually something he could get fined for, which Sojiro considered to be a glaring error on the behalf of the legal system.  
  
There were a variety of other things he’d been forced to deal with; forcing some of the younger staff members to promise this wouldn’t end up all over social media, getting a temporary tank set up, figuring out what to do about actually helping this thing recover, etc. That last one lead to where he was now; glaring at the two researchers who’d been sent in to check on the mer this morning.  
  
The older of the two, Takenaka, was sporting a large number of bandages wrapped around his chest and a facial expression more sour than those god-awful warhead things Futaba had once managed to trick her poor father into eating (he was wiser now; if she offers you anything with _that _expression on her face, say no). The younger one, Hayashi, had an ugly looking bruise starting to form on the side of his face, and seemed noticeably uncomfortable at being stuck in a room with a clearly pissy Takenaka. Sojiro couldn’t honestly blame him, since Takenaka was a right old piece of work on a good day. Personality aside however, he was still a competent scientist, which was why he’d been assigned to checking up on the mer in the first place; a task which, apparently, didn’t go too well.__  
  
“Alright, explain.” Sojiro sighed. One look at the indignance on Takenaka’s face told him he was in for a considerable amount of complaining.  
  
“Damn thing went ballistic!” Takenaka said, scowling and waving his arms around for emphasis. “We go in to check on it while it’s still asleep, see how its gills are doing and if there’s any other damage we would need to take care of, and then out of nowhere it wakes up, slaps Hayashi in the face, and tries to kill me when I go in to calm it down! Don’t let it’s human-ish half fool you, that thing’s a nasty little savage!”  
  
Sojiro felt the beginnings of a headache coming on, likely the same headache that always resulted from trying to interact with Takenaka. Seriously, if he weren’t usually so good at his job Sojiro would’ve tried firing him a long time ago, or at least transferring him to some position where he wouldn’t have to interact with the guy on a regular basis. Or ever, preferably. Takenaka had a nasty form of what might be considered a victim complex in that he always blamed his problems on literally anybody except himself, even when they were entirely his fault, and Sojiro just didn’t have a tolerance for that. ‘Trying to calm it down’, really? If the guy had half a brain he would’ve known better than to chase after a frenzying wild animal, especially one with very sharp natural weapons, and Sojiro was about to start telling him off when Hayashi stepped in.  
  
“Okay, well, that’s not entirely fair, sir, it was just scared.” Hayashi said. Both Takenaka and Sojiro stared at him in shock, and even Hayashi himself seemed surprised. The younger man wasn’t exactly known for being particularly talkative or confrontational, especially with someone who was likely to get as pissy about it as Takenaka. Sure enough, after the initial surprise had worn off, Takenaka retorted.  
  
“What do you mean, ‘not fair’?” He sneered, “The damn thing tried to kill me! If I hadn’t moved back at the last second I guarantee you these scratches wouldn’t just be surface level, and even then they still hurt! And look at you! That thing hit you hard enough to nearly knock you off the platform, and your face is already bruising.”  
  
“Well it wasn’t like it was completely unprovoked!” Hayashi said back, continuing with this streak of unusual bravery, “It only hit me when I touched it, and it only scratched you when you cornered it. If you had woken up to some strange creature touching you, and then another had come after you when you tried to get away, wouldn’t you do the same thing?” He was right, of course, the fight or flight response was just basic nature, and given that the mer didn’t exactly have the option for flight here, it really shouldn’t have come as a surprise that it would start attacking. But of course, Takenaka wouldn’t see it that way. That guy always just _had _to be right.__  
  
“Oh not you too,” he snarled, “first that stupid kid starts trying to tell me off about how I must’ve somehow upset the poor little fishy, and now you’re trying to tell me this is my fault, too? Seriously, do you not remember all those incidents of mer sinking boats and killing swimmers? Just last month a family of tourists lost their _three year old child _to a mer that was lurking at the beach where they went for a swim. Tell me Hayashi, do you think the toddler was posing a threat to that thing? They’re violent creatures! Why am I the only one that sees that!?” Hayashi visibly flinched at the mention of the toddler, and it admittedly made Sojiro a little uncomfortable to think about that. He used to take Futaba down to play by the beach all the time when she was younger, if that had been his kid… although wait, speaking of kids…__  
  
“Wait, what was that about some ‘stupid kid’ who told you off?” Sojiro asked.  
  
“Oh, you didn’t know?” Takenaka asked, his tone still acidic in a way that made Sojiro scowl. Angry or not, he was still this guy’s boss. “Your stuck-up little intern and her friends decided to have a field trip to go see the mer. The delinquent with the bleached hair got all snappy at me about ‘upsetting the mer’, and so I said ‘fine, if you bunch of brats think you can handle a violent animal better than a professional, be my guest’, and then left to try and go take better care of the gashes in my chest that their ‘harmless little friend’ left me with.” Takenaka was so caught up in his huffy dramatics that it took him a second or two to catch the look on Sojiro’s face, and even then he didn’t seem to understand what it meant.  
  
“What?” He asked sharply, and Sojiro had to restrain himself from reaching over and shaking the guy.  
  
“You just… left them in there?” He asked, struggling to keep his tone level.  
  
“Yeah. It’s not my job to babysit a bunch of self-righteous teenagers.” Takenaka replied, still not catching on to the menacing aura his boss was giving off. Hayashi seemed to have noticed, and had begun slowly inching further away, but Sojiro didn’t care. Hayashi wasn’t the one he was mad at.  
  
“And was my daughter perhaps among that group?” Sojiro asked, and this time Takenaka seemed to have picked up on the fact that he was in trouble.  
  
“Um… yeah…” He replied, noticeably less confident than he’d sounded a second ago.  
  
“So what you’re trying to tell me is that you left my intern, my daughter, and a bunch of other high schoolers unsupervised, _alone _, in a room, with a _frenzied mer _? One that, as you’ve stated multiple times now, injured both you and your partner, as well as attempted to kill you? Is that what you’re saying happened?” Sojiro asked, and Takenaka wilted a little under his boss’s furious stare.____  
  
“Well, I, um, I guess I technically did, but, but they clearly didn’t want me in there!” Takenaka fumbled, still trying to avoid the blame.  
  
“That doesn’t mean you just leave them alone!” Sojiro yelled, his composure slipping away in the face of anger, and, if he was being honest, fear.  
  
“I-I’m sorry-” Takenaka started, but Sojiro cut him off.  
  
“I’m going back there to check on them, and I swear to god, if any of those kids are injured, I’m going to put you in that things tank and close the lid.” Sojiro snarled, before turning heel and running for the room where he knew the mer was kept. He hadn’t been serious about essentially feeding his underling to the mer when he’d said it, but as an image of his daughter with her neck held between the jaws of that creature flashed across his paranoid mind, he found himself growing more and more comfortable with the idea of actually acting upon the initially baseless threat.  
  
‘Please god let them be okay’ he thought to himself as he fumbled with the keycard reader. The old law of horror movies that prevented people from being able to properly use keys when they most needed to seemed to be effecting him as well, making it so that it took about eight tries before the door finally slid open.  
  
Instead of the worst case scenario of dead teenagers, or even the much more realistic scenario of maybe one kid with a bite or a scratch, the sight that greeted him inside the room was one so bizarre that it took him a moment to process it.  
  
Futaba was okay, thank god, and staring at him with the expression of a kid caught with his hand in a cookie jar. The same look was mirrored on the faces of his intern, Takamaki, that student council girl she always hung around with, that weird kid who he’d once seen trying to pose a sea turtle, and that loud blond guy who’d complained that ‘tiger shark’ was a misleading name. The tiger shark kid was the one who ended up drawing Sojiro’s eye the most, likely due to the fact that he had the mer literally laying in his lap. After another second, the shock had worn off enough for Sojiro to find his voice.  
  
“WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU KIDS DOING!?!”  
  
\-----------------------------------------  
  
If you were to ask Ryuji, several days ago, whether he considered sitting on a small plastic platform with a cold, wet fish person all over him to be his idea of a good time, he would’ve said no. He also would’ve looked at you as if you were crazy, which would be completely within his right to do, given the overall specificity of the question, and the fact that he has no idea who you are. Now though, in that exact scenario, he found himself both happy and fairly comfortable.  
  
Sure, Akira was getting water all over him, and sure, the unnatural cold of the boy’s body had been a bit of a shock at first, but he found that he didn’t really mind those things. Physically, Akira had begun to warm up, likely as a direct result of him heat-vampiring Ryuji for several minutes, and his steady purrs buzzed through Ryuji’s body from their points of contact. He felt the rumbling in his bones, particularly those of his legs where Akira was laying, and it was actually pretty damn relaxing. Mentally, Akira’s contentedness seemed to radiate off of him in waves, lulling Ryuji into the same state.  
  
Which made it all the more jarring when the door suddenly slid open to reveal Mr. Sakura, staring at them in shock.  
  
“WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU KIDS DOING!?!” Mr. Sakura shouted, and the whole room winced. The whole room including Akira, who had been jolted out of his calm alongside Ryuji. His arms, which had until then been loosely wrapped around Ryuji’s waist, tightened suddenly with an amount of strength that shouldn’t have been possible from someone his size, claws nicking Ryuji’s sides just enough to barely draw blood, but not enough to actually hurt, thank god. He had gone stock still, rigid, his fins drawn in and his eyes wide. The purring had stopped, and so had his breathing.  
  
Mr. Sakura took a step towards them and Ryuji felt a sudden dizzying wave of panic sweep over him, the force of it causing him to lurch forward as if he’d been punched in the gut. It was odd though, because Ryuji wasn’t panicking. Sure, he was nervous, but nowhere near the level of terror that had swept him. He _felt _panic, but he himself didn’t _feel _panicked, almost as if the emotion wasn’t his own. A strangled whine from the body below him caused him to glance down.____  
  
Akira had started breathing again, but not normally. His gills flared open far too wide and for way too short of a time as he gasped quickly for air he didn’t seem to be getting, a pattern that Ryuji recognized as probably the mer equivalent of hyperventilation. That first realization was followed quickly by another as it struck Ryuji that the alien sense of panic he’d felt indeed didn’t belong to him, it was from Akira. Somehow, Akira’s emotions had transmitted themselves to him. It seemed like some unbelievable sci-fi bullshit, but given the day he’d been having Ryuji wasn’t about to throw anything out as too unrealistic.  
  
Akira wasn’t moving too much aside from his breathing, instead staring at Mr. Sakura like a deer caught in headlights. He didn’t seem like he was about to go back into the full-blown episode he’d been having when Ryuji had gotten here, thank god, but Ryuji still felt that it would be a good idea to try and calm him down. Part of that had to do with his own safety, as he didn’t exactly want Akira to flip out in this close of a proximity to him, but the other, larger part of that was just that he felt bad for him. Poor guy had been having a pretty terrible day, and Ryuji felt that it was at least somewhat his responsibility to try and keep him from going through two panic attacks in as many hours.  
  
“Hey, Akira, it’s okay,” he said, wincing internally. Oh right, he’d forgotten how utterly shit he was at trying to comfort people. It seemed to be doing something though, because Akira twitched at the sound of his name, his ear fin flicking slightly and his eyes darting briefly towards Ryuji before looking back at Mr. Sakura, who had luckily stopped advancing and instead stared. Ryuji really hoped somebody would be able to deal with him, at least stop him from yelling again or coming towards them, because he had a feeling that any progress he would be able to make towards calming Akira down would be shattered the second any of that started up again.  
  
“Akira,” he tried, hoping to capitalize on the fact that Akira seemed to always respond to his name. Sure enough, he twitched again, this time glancing at Ryuji for a second longer than last time before looking away.  
  
“Akira, hey, look at me,” he said, and the third time seemed to be the charm because Akira finally turned his head back towards Ryuji, paying attention to him even as he kept glancing at Mr. Sakura out of the corner of his eye.  
  
“There you go, that’s it. Good job Akira, just focus on me, alright?” He got a reaction on that one, grey eyes widening at his words and a soft, almost inaudible noise that sounded an awful lot like a trill emitting from the boy’s throat.  
  
Ryuji reached his hand back up and once again began to lightly scratch behind Akira’s ear fin, recalling that he’d seemed especially fond of that. Mr. Sakura’s sharp intake of breath from below caused Akira to tense up again, but Ryuji was quick to try and distract him.  
  
“Hey, hey, it’s alright. You’re doing great so far, Akira, just calm down,” he said, moving his other hand up to run through Akira’s hair. 'For fucks sake dude, he's not a toddler', his brain chided, but he ignored it. A: he had no idea what else to do, and B: it looked like it was working so whatever. The tension had slowly started to ebb out of the mer's body, and the panic Ryuji had felt earlier had mostly faded away, replaced with more of a general unease. Still not perfect, but certainly better.  
  
It would probably be best for someone to try and explain what was going on to Mr. Sakura before he started yelling again. Without taking his eyes off of Akira or halting his movements, Ryuji spoke.  
  
“Mr. Sakura, this isn’t what it looks like. Well, actually, it’s probably exactly what it looks like, since it looks like I have a mer laying on me, and that is actually what’s going on, I don’t know what else you could really make of this situation, but it’s not like, sinister or anything I guess? If you were getting sinister vibes, that is, which, like, you probably were, because of the whole ‘people eating’ thing, but like I just said, that’s not what’s happening so uh, yeah.” He said, noticing how many times the word “like” seemed to have slipped into his speech. What could he say? Ann’s speech habits had a habit of wearing off on him, especially when he was nervous. He had no freaking idea what to say, really, but talking without thinking was one of the things he was best at, and so he went ahead and did just that. He figured step one should probably be introductions.  
  
“So, uh, this is Akira, he’s a mer, but, you uh, obviously, knew that already cause like, you… work here. And also you can like, see that just by looking at him but uh… yeah. This is Akira, and he’s actually really chill, but he’s also like, pretty freaked out right now, so maybe less yelling would be good.” Mr. Sakura just stared at him incredulously. “And uh, Akira,” the mer’s ear fins twitched as he was addressed, “that’s Mr. Sakura. He’s kind of like, in charge here, and I know he looks kinda scary, but he’s, like, fine actually.” Yikes he was bad at this. “So yeah, uh, Akira; Mr. Sakura. Mr. Sakura; Akira,” He said, gesturing towards the person he was talking about as he spoke.  
  
From the somewhat blank look on his face, it was a safe bet to say that Akira had by no means understood everything that Ryuji had just said, but he seemed to have at least gotten the gist of it, as he was noticeably less tense than he had been a second ago. Still not “relaxed” by any stretch of the imagination, mind you, but certainly more relaxed than he was, which counted as improvement.  
  
Futaba was the next to talk. She’d been nervously side-eyeing Mr. Sakura the same way the rest of them (minus Ryuji, as he’d been a bit preoccupied) had since he’d burst into the room, as if afraid that any movement would set him off. It was oddly similar to the situation a few minutes ago when Akira had first approached, except this time they were hoping to avoid a massive lecture instead of death by fish-boy. It was Mr. Sakura opening his mouth to speak that prompted Futaba to step in.  
  
“Dad, please be cool about this,” she said, prompting the focus of her father’s incredulous stare to shift from Ryuji and Akira to her. Honestly, Ryuji kind of understood that response. ‘Please be cool about this’ was the kind of thing a teenager asks of a parent who discovers their love life, not the fact that they’ve been hanging out with a man-eating sea creature. Granted, Akira wasn’t exactly the epitome of a threat, at least, not so far, but Mr. Sakura had no real way of knowing that.  
  
“You named it Akira?” Mr. Sakura asked after a moment. Ryuji blinked. That certainly wasn’t the first question he would’ve asked in this situation, but okay then. It was still leagues better than yelling at them to get out or anything like that.  
  
“Uh, not exactly. That’s just kind of, his name.” Ryuji responded.  
  
Mr. Sakura raised an eyebrow.  
  
“Are you saying it, or, he, I suppose, talked to you or something?” He asked, and the way he said it made it abundantly clear he didn’t believe it.  
  
“Oh, right, uh, about that actually; hey, Akira?” Ryuji prompted. Akira, who’d been watching Mr. Sakura as he spoke, turned his attention back to Ryuji and wow okay no matter how many times it happened he didn’t think he would ever be able to get over the initial lurch in his stomach that came with those eyes locking onto him. “Uh, say hello to Mr. Sakura,” he said, gesturing in the direction of the adult and praying to god that Akira understood what he was trying to get across there, otherwise this could get pretty embarrassing.  
  
It took him a second, but luckily he did. He glanced at Mr. Sakura, then back at Ryuji as if to confirm. Upon Ryuji’s encouraging nod, he spoke.  
  
“He-llo”, he said, though the tone was noticeably more suspicious this time around. If Mr. Sakura noticed the layer of distrust there, he didn’t care, as his eyebrows practically launched themselves into the stratosphere at the sound of Akira’s voice.  
  
“Good god he talks?!” Mr. Sakura sputtered out, and Ryuji was overcome with a sense of deja vu. He glanced at Ann for assistance. She and Makoto had been utterly silent throughout this whole exchange, which was absolute bullshit because out of their current group those two were the most capable of explaining themselves without sounding like morons. Haru was normally also pretty good at that, but she wasn’t here right now. Ryuji could barely get through two words without needing to put his foot in his mouth, and both Yusuke and Futaba were… not exactly the epitome of socially functional human beings, to say the least. Why was it that the two best talkers of them all had yet to say a word? Granted, Yusuke hadn’t said anything yet either, but that was probably for the best. Luckily, Ann seemed to have been picking up on the vibes he was sending her way, as she soon stepped in.  
  
“Mr. Sakura, I can explain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the excessive presence of the two scientists. I know a lot of people can't stand it when OCs get thrown in, both because it can be confusing and because they don't care, and believe me, I understand that, it was just that I felt I needed to kind of put at least a little more resolution into their whole scene since I introduced them in the first place and I'm trying super hard to have as few loose ends as possible. So sorry about that.


	6. Ooo He HONGRY

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akira doesn't have a great history when it comes to adult humans

Akira was convinced that the amount of crap he’d had to put up with in such a short period of time had to be some sort of infringement. Of what laws specifically he couldn’t say, but there was absolutely no way that this should be allowed.  
  
First, he’d gotten injured by spirits know what, then he’d ended up captured by humans, (likely because of said injury), and then he’d been basically molested by a human and driven into an embarrassing state of panic over it. Now, granted, the outcome of that particular embarrassment had been the beginning of a sort of podship with this Ryuji guy, as well as head scratches that felt way better than they had any right to, so he supposed it could’ve been worse, but then this happened.  
  
He had just been beginning to seriously consider the whole “taking a nap” idea when the door had once again swished open, this time to reveal another adult human. Shit, it seemed the two that Ryuji had managed to chase off had called in backup. The adult had immediately begun shouting, and suddenly Akira was a pup again, clinging to a young human as an adult came barreling towards him, screaming. Phantom pain alighted on the side of his face from where that particular adult had struck so long ago and he found himself once again beginning to panic. That time there had been the ocean right behind him, he’d been able to slip back into the water and swim away from the raging adult, but this time there was nothing. He could dive back into the tank, sure, but these humans seemed to have devised a way to breathe underwater, and without a large enough space his ability to outswim them meant nothing. For the second time today he found himself cornered, and frankly he was sick of this.  
  
The adult moved towards him and he felt the ghost of sharp shoes digging into his skull. He had no doubt that human would’ve killed him had he not fled, and this time he didn’t have that option. He was unable to stop the whine that escaped him. Could they just be done with this? Please? The rushes of adrenaline that came with fearing for his life were beginning to make him nauseous, and he was pretty sure that had he actually eaten anything recently, he would’ve thrown it up by now.  
  
Over the ringing sound of panic that echoed in his head, he thought he heard someone say his name, but he couldn’t be sure. He kept his gaze locked on the adult, which had stopped moving in favor of staring at him. Part of him almost thought that was worse.  
  
“Akira”, he heard again, a little clearer this time. He quickly glanced at Ryuji, since he was pretty sure that’s who was talking to him, but a glance was all he spared before returning focus to the adult.  
  
“Akira, hey, look at me,” the voice, obviously Ryuji now that he was paying more attention, came again and this time he caved. If he was trying this hard to get his attention, it was probably important, right? He turned to focus on the human boy, though he couldn’t stop himself from checking on the adult out of the corner of his eye, just to make sure.  
  
“There you go, that’s it. Good job, Akira, just focus on me, alright?” Ryuji said, and the tone was something Akira thought he had heard before, but never directed at him. He didn’t entirely understand all of the words Ryuji just said, but he did definitely understand his name and the words “good job”. He was… encouraging him? Well that was… new. A small sound that might have been a trill escaped Akira’s throat and he wanted to slap himself. Great spirits he was pathetic.  
  
Ryuji’s hand had moved back behind his ear fin to resume the light scratching from earlier, something that he would have been able to appreciate a lot more had the adult not suddenly made a sound. Akira regained tension that he hadn’t realized he’d let go, bracing himself for the adult to come after him, but once again Ryuji started talking.  
  
“Hey, hey, it’s alright. You’re doing great so far, Akira, just calm down,” Ryuji said, and once again the sound of his name, spoken in that tone, managed to snap him out of it. Ryuji’s other hand had begun stroking through his hair and it was as if a trance had taken over him. While he was still certainly uneasy, there were almost hypnotic waves of calm that had begun to wash over him, lulling him back into the sleepy daze he’d been enjoying before the adult had barged in. A distant part of his mind noted that this didn’t exactly seem natural, and that he should probably be a little more concerned about the fact that he was so easily pacified, but that thought was muted by the pleasant hum in his brain before he could really think about it.  
  
Ryuji was talking again, but he didn’t hear his name at all, so Akira figured that he wasn’t the one being addressed, and therefore just let the boy’s babbling wash over him without bothering to try and translate. He’d decided that he actually quite liked the cadence and flow of the human’s language, that despite how foreign it was it was still rather relaxing. Although it could’ve been that he just liked the way Ryuji talked. Or it could’ve been that he just liked Ryuji. Whatever. He was a little too zonked out to actually analyze himself right now, and he was more than okay with that. Akira had a habit of over analyzing situations, of thinking too much and second guessing until he drove himself crazy, so it was a welcome change to have all of that background chatter in his brain replaced with the steady hum that echoed there now.  
  
Akira heard Ryuji say his name a couple times, but it wasn’t until the third time that he actually got the sense he was being addressed. He looked up at Ryuji with hazy eyes, trying to piece together what exactly he was saying. The boy had begun speaking faster than earlier, which made it a little hard to follow, but his gesturing from the adult to Akira and back again, along with the repetition of his own name and another, gave Akira the impression that he was being introduced. Apparently the adult was called ‘Missersakra’. Or at least it was something along those lines. The human language contained a lot of rather indistinct sounds, and Ryuji talking quickly made it so that he was really only able to get a general idea of what things sounded like, and less so what he may have actually specifically been saying. But the specifics weren’t really important right now. What was important right now was that the adult, Missersakra or whatever, no longer looked like he was approaching, and Ryuji didn’t seem too terribly worried, so it was probably safe.  
  
One of the other adolescent humans, the female with the orange hair and strange device on her face, spoke next to the adult, whose focus shifted from Akira to her as she talked. Akira lazily regarded them, a bit startled when the adult said his name, but still nowhere near as jumpy as he’d initially been. Ryuji exchanged a few words with the adult before addressing him again, prompting Akira to change focus.  
  
“Uh, say hello to Mr. Sakura,” Ryuji said, gesturing in the direction of the adult. He’d spoken a little more slowly this time, allowing Akira to better understand what exactly he was trying to get across. He wanted him to greet this ‘Mistersakura’? The encouraging nod from Ryuji seemed to confirm that theory, and so he went ahead.  
  
“He-llo,” he said, not even going to attempt pronouncing the adult’s name. At least ‘Ryuji’ had some sharper sounds to it; ‘Mistersakura’ had a whole lot of that not-quite-hissing sound that Akira wasn’t entirely sure he could emulate.  
  
Name or not, it seemed to suffice, as the adult looked stunned and began talking yet again. Another one of the adolescent humans, this time the blonde girl, started to speak with him, but Akira wasn’t listening. Instead, he relaxed back down on top of Ryuji and thought.  
  
Human’s names in general seemed to be a fair bit longer than mer’s, which were usually only about one syllable, two at most. It had earned Akira some strange looks the few times he’d introduced himself; having a name that was so obviously not of mer origin, but given that he’d never had anybody to name him he’d had to do it himself, and it just so happened that what finally stuck with him was of human creation instead of mer.  
  
He’d been about five winters old at the time, still too young to travel far but too old to be content with just staying. He’d seen creatures in the distance that looked similar to him, and heard their voices echo throughout the water, so he knew he wasn’t alone, but he was too small and too slow to ever catch up to them before they swam off. Though he hadn’t known the word for it at the time, he was lonely, and it was this loneliness that drove him up to the shimmering surface of the water, desperate for someone other than himself to interact with.  
  
The waves seemed to go on for eternity in all directions, save for one, where just the slightest strip of something else could be seen. Curious and ignorant, he’d swum towards it, watching as grew larger and larger until he finally reached a point where the water stopped, lapping up against sand that had grown too high for it to cover. He’d rested there in the place where the water met the sand, delighting in the warmth that his newfound proximity to the sun gave him, until he was awoken by a sound.  
  
When he’d looked up, he’d been convinced he was still dreaming, because not far from him stood a creature both like and unlike himself. It was small and young, much like him, with dark hair atop a head with a face that held two eyes, a nose, and a mouth, all of roughly the same placement and proportion as his own. It had a neck and shoulders and a torso that sprouted two arms ending in five fingered hands like him, but that was around where the resemblance stopped because from there it had no scales, just more flesh splitting off into two more limbs instead of one. It was also strangely devoid of fins of any kind, though colorful material covered the creature’s waist and the tops of it’s two not-tails. He wasn’t sure what to make of it, and evidently the creature wasn’t that sure what to make of him either.  
  
They’d merely stared at each other for a moment, before curiosity had taken a hold of him and he’d dragged himself forward across the sand. The creature seemed compelled by the same impulse, and had toddled towards him as well, its strange not-tails allowing it to move much faster out of the water than he could, before dropping itself down right in front of him so that they were on roughly the same level.  
  
He’d sniffed it curiously, and been surprised by the sheer amount of things he was unable to place in the creature’s scent. The creature had begun babbling at him, its voice so unlike any of the voices he’d heard before, and he’d scooted closer to it, poking at one of the not-tails. The creature had responded by touching one of his ear fins, evidently just as curious about him as he was about it.  
  
A sudden, loud shriek had startled both of them, and he’d looked over to see another one of the creatures, much, much larger than the one he was playing with, moving towards them at a high speed.  
  
“AKIRA!” It screeched, “AKIRA! AKIRA GET AWAY FROM THAT THING!!”  
  
It was almost on top of them now, and in a moment of unparalleled stupidity he’d grabbed the small creature and hissed at the larger one. He’d decided that he quite liked this thing, whatever it was, and so he was going to try and protect it from the loud monster that rushed towards them. Logically he knew that there was absolutely no way he’d be able to fight or frighten the giant, but he had to try, didn’t he. Predictably, it hadn’t gone well.  
  
“AKIRA!!” It shrieked again, before lashing out with one of its not-tails and striking him in the face, hard. There was something on the end of its not-tails, something hard and sharp, with a big point that dug into his skull. He’d yelped, still trying to shield the smaller creature, and it had struck again, this time getting that point dangerously close to his eye. Still, he’d held on, trying to put himself between the small creature and this one, which had only seemed to spur it on.  
  
“AKIRA! LET GO OF MY SON YOU LITTLE BASTARD!” It had screeched, the sound only serving to worsen the throbbing in his head. This time, it bought that not-tail down on his arm, hard enough that he’d felt something snap and he’d _screamed _.__  
  
That blow had loosened his grip considerably but it didn’t stop, driving the weapon on the end of its limb into his side, his arm, and his face over and over again. He’d felt a couple more things crunch until another blow to the head knocked him back.  
  
Stars had danced across his vision and he’d finally done what any sensible creature would’ve done a while ago and fled, darting back into the water and swimming away as fast as his battered body would let him. As he’d fled he’d heard the creature’s cry again, calling “AKIRA! AKIRA, ARE YOU OKAY?!” before it was finally out of earshot.  
  
Adrenaline had carried him far, but there soon came a point where he’d been unable to ignore the pain any longer and collapsed, curling in on himself underneath a rock and wincing as the full force of the injuries finally caught up to him. He’d begun to whine, the sound catching the attention of mer near enough to hear it, but none had stopped.  
  
He would later learn that those creatures were called humans, and that attempting to fend off an adult one of those had been about the dumbest decision he could’ve made. He would later learn that he was lucky to have survived, especially as relatively uninjured as he’d been, since encounters with humans so often led to death or permanent disfigurement. He would later learn all of these things, but at the time he’d merely been curled up as far as he could go, the echo of his assailant’s cry bouncing around his mind. 'Akira', it cried.  
  
Akira  
  
Akira  
  
Akira  
  
Akira  
  
“-ira? Akira?” Ryuji’s voice jolted him awake. Apparently he’d started to fall asleep without realizing it, but could he really be blamed? He was freaking exhausted. He looked up at Ryuji.  
  
“Sorry to wake you up, Akira, I was just wondering if you were hungry?” That was a question, he understood that much, and he also understood that it had been prefaced with an apology that wasn’t all that necessary but still nice to hear, but he hadn’t understood the words that could’ve told him what he was actually being asked.  
  
His confusion must’ve shown on his face because Ryuji tried again.  
  
“Uh, food? Do you want food?” He asked and okay, Akira understood that one.  
  
“Ye-ssss,” he responded, the last part of the word coming out as a hiss. He knew he couldn’t make that freaking sound! But that wasn’t the point, the point was food. He hadn’t thought that much about it, given he’d been a little bit preoccupied with all the other crap he’d been put through, but Akira was hungry. Really, really, hungry. By the time he’d gotten caught and put in here, it’d been about a day since he’d last eaten, and the stress of his situation hadn’t exactly helped.  
  
“Alright cool, that’s kinda what I thought,” Ryuji said, though he seemed to be talking more to himself than to Akira. “Hey, uh, Ann, how exactly are we gonna do this?” Now he definitely wasn’t talking to him, so Akira stopped trying to listen. His head was starting to hurt, so he decided he wasn’t going to try and understand what was being said unless it was being said specifically to him.  
  
The blonde girl left the room with the adult, and Ryuji was still petting him, so Akira let himself zone out again. The other humans were chatting amongst themselves, and Ryuji spoke up occasionally as well, but he was clearly still talking to them. After a minute or two, the door opened again to reveal the blonde and the adult with a bucket. The scent of fish was suddenly rather heavy in the air and Akira perked up, prompting a laugh from Ryuji.  
  
The blonde girl and Ryuji seemed to argue for a minute, but Akira’s focus was solely on the bucket that she held, within which he could see what looked like mackerel. The end of his tail waved slowly, unconsciously mimicking the steady movements of stalking prey. The blonde girl climbed the stairs up to the platform, and Akira had to stop himself from trying to launch off the edge and just grab the bucket as soon as possible. When she finally reached the top, she seemed nervous, and Akira realized that he probably looked a little scary right now, but he couldn’t exactly help it. He was hungry, it was taking all of his willpower not to just lunge at her and grab the damn bucket already.  
  
In one swift movement she turned and dumped the bucket’s contents into the tank. Just about the second she did Akira was on the move. He broke the water’s surface at practically the same time as the fish did, and he’d managed to snatch up and eat most of them before the rest had time to reach the bottom. They were already dead, which Akira wasn’t particularly fond of, (as a general rule it was best not to eat things that you find already dead), but at the moment he couldn’t bring himself to care. If it turned out these things were diseased then so fucking be it.  
  
The taste was… off, unlike the fresh fish he was used to consuming, but Akira was no food critic. Besides, hunger made even barnacles taste like a prime yellowtail, so he wasn’t complaining.  
  
He devoured the fish in what might have been record speed, taking time to clean the bones of any remaining meat before discarding them on the floor of the tank and swimming back up. Upon breaking the surface he was greeted with a stunned expression on Ryuji’s face, and it then dawned on him that perhaps decimating a bunch of fish like a savage was not the best way to convince these humans that he wasn’t a threat. Akira bowed his head, careful to hide his teeth.  
  
“Sss-orr-y,” he said, flinching at the hiss that came out with the word. Of all the sounds that the human word for apologizing could contain, why did it have to be the one that made him sound like he was trying to be threatening?  
  
No response came and Akira risked a glance back up, nervous that he’d finally blown it. Instead of horrified or scared like he was expecting though, Ryuji actually looked… impressed. Hell, he was smiling.  
  
“Dude, that was fucking _awesome! _Holy shit! You’re like a fish-annihilating ninja or something!” He shouted, and Akira blinked. He didn’t understand a large number of the words that had just been spoken, but he did understand the general tone.__  
  
Before he could stop himself, Akira started laughing. The stress of the day had worn him down to the point where this little thing, Ryuji’s inexplicable excitement over seeing him destroy a bunch of mackerel, was suddenly the funniest fucking thing he’d ever seen. Of course he wasn’t afraid, this guy seemed to exist purely to be a force of destruction for Akira’s expectations of humanity. He’d been adoring when he should’ve been hateful, protective when he should’ve been indifferent, kind when he should’ve been cruel, and now excited when he should be horrified.  
  
Still laughing, Akira pulled himself up close to Ryuji and collapsed against him, resting his head on the boy’s shoulder as he halfheartedly tried to stop the snorts and giggles that kept escaping. He really, really didn’t understand this guy, and that was about the greatest thing he could’ve asked for.


	7. Motherfucker: The Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little insight from Ryuji; The Bisexual Disaster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a lot more dialogue heavy than I usually write, and I'm not very good at dialogue, so I apologize. Also, we have fanart now?!?! Seriously, check out my tumblr, I reblogged some fanart that a couple amazing people did!

Ryuji had to hand it to her, Ann had a knack for treading volatile situations. If it had been him in the position of trying to calm down a very confused and potentially very angry Mr. Sakura, he likely would’ve just said something stupid and made the whole thing blow up way worse than it would’ve on it’s own, but Ann seemed to possess some incredible ability that allowed her to navigate around any of the potential conversational landmines that Ryuji knew he would’ve hit, and coax Mr. Sakura into a begrudging calm in a matter of minutes. Of course, he wasn’t terribly surprised, as he’d seen her manage to talk her way out of more than a few trips to the guidance counselor or other disciplinary actions threatened against her by student council and faculty members alike. For someone so terrible at acting, she sure was a born manipulator, and Ryuji could respect that. Especially considering she’d managed to save his ass on a number of occasions, including this one.  
  
“So he’s just been… laying there? Talking? He came up there of his own volition and let the tiger shark kid touch him?” Mr. Sakura asked, his tone betraying his incredulity. Ryuji figured the “tiger shark kid” was a reference to him, likely due to the fact that the one and only interaction he’d ever really had with Mr. Sakura had involved him complaining in the man’s general direction that if they were going to call something a “tiger shark” then it should at least have stripes or something because otherwise it was just rude to get people’s hopes up. That wasn’t really what he wanted to be remembered for, but he supposed it was much better than it could’ve been given how awkward some of his other interactions with people tended to be.  
  
“Yeah, it was incredible! Ryuji climbed up there to… actuallyIdon’tknowwhathewasdoingbutthat’snotthepointrightnow, and Akira just swam, swum?, swimmed? ah whatever, he made his way up there, hauled himself up onto the platform, and then just kinda like, flopped over to lay on Ryuji. It was super weird, none of us really knew what to think, and then Ryuji just like, started… petting him basically? And I guess mer can purr apparently cause Akira was doing a whole lot of that, and then Ryuji started talking and Akira actually responded?!? It was super cool!”  
  
Ryuji wasn’t exactly one for art, but even he could tell that the expression on Mister Sakura’s face was an artform in and of itself. How so many different emotions; frustration, disbelief, confusion, relief, amusement, terror, and god knows what else could be communicated on one, still somehow bored looking canvas was one of life’s greatest mysteries. The blank look in the man’s eyes spoke volumes, switching between what may have been a thousand different possible reactions to the bizarre reality he’d just been presented before finally seeming to settle on the good old reliable “fuck it”.  
  
“All right then.” He said after a second. Ann looked confused, and admittedly Ryuji was too. Not that that wasn’t great and all, in fact it was probably about the best response they could’ve asked for, but it just… didn’t make any sense. That was it?  
  
“You’re… not freaking out?” Ann asked. Mister Sakura just sighed.  
  
“Kid, I’ve lived a pretty long life. Not that long, mind you, I don’t need any grandpa jokes, but long enough that I’ve seen some stuff. I had a friend in middle school who played the flute with his nose, I had a tooth come in sideways, a buddy of mine in high school once drank seven beers, stole a police barricade, and then hid it in my basement. Hell, I have a daughter who almost got arrested for stealing people’s credit card numbers and using them to bulk buy gummi bears off of Amazon when she was eleven years old!” Mr. Sakura said.  
  
“Knew I should’ve used a fake address” Futaba mumbled. Mr. Sakura sent an exasperated glare her direction.  
  
“What you should’ve done was not start a phishing scam just because you had a sweet tooth.”  
  
“Well if you’d have just given me the gummi bears of your own volition, we never would’ve had a problem.”  
  
“Futaba we’ve been over this, and that’s not the point right now. The point right now is look, I’ve seen some pretty weird stuff in my day, and I’m betting the only reason I’m not crazy by now is because I’ve learned to just accept it. So if the man-eating fish-person can talk and likes to cuddle with loudmouth teenagers then sure. Why the hell not? I don’t get paid enough to deal with this, and even if I did I don’t know what exactly I’m supposed to do with… that,” he said, gesturing in the direction of Akira and Ryuji.  
  
A brief silence followed that statement. All of them were grateful to Mr. Sakura, sure, but no one exactly knew how to respond to that. He did have a good point though; what exactly would one do about this situation? It wasn’t exactly like there was much of a precedent to work with here.  
  
“Thanks dad”, Futaba finally chimed, and the small smile Mr. Sakura sent her was jarring to Ryuji, as he’d never seen that sort of expression on the man’s face. Usually it was just scowling and various degrees of exasperation.  
  
“So is um, Akira, hungry or anything? It’s been a while since he got here, and I know the sedatives we gave him when we were trying to cut him free of that idiot’s net can tend to get the appetite going.” Mr. Sakura asked. Sedatives? Net? It just then dawned Ryuji that he didn’t actually have any idea how Akira had ended up here in the first place. Oh well. He’d probably have to bother Ann about it later. Right now though…  
  
“Akira,” he tried. The boy didn’t respond. Holy hell was he asleep? Kinda made sense, he’d had a pretty shit day, but he also probably needed to eat. Uuuugh. Ryuji was gonna feel really bad for waking him up, but he’d feel even worse if the dude was just laying there starving. Okay, food first, then he could go back to bed. Alright. That works.  
  
“Akira,” he tried again, still no response. “Uh, Akira?” That time, the mer fidgeted, his ear fin flicking slightly as he shifted a little. Okay, well, that was probably a good sign. “Akira?” he said again, and thank god, that seemed to do the trick.  
  
Akira’s eyes opened, blinking a few times in response to the bright lights of the room. The groggy haze that lay over gray eyes was one Ryuji, and every teenager (shit, was this guy a teenager? He sure looked like it, but who the hell knows how mer aging works. Actually, Ann. Ann the hell knows. He’d have to ask) was very familiar with. There’s always that awkward period of time when you’re just waking up where you have to try and remember how limbs work.  
  
After that brief second that it always seems to take to reconnect the mind with the body, Akira focused on Ryuji. Well, not really focused, his eyes were still kinda glazed over. Poor guy seemed really out of it, and Ryuji felt guilty for waking him up, but food needed to happen. Ryuji had gone without eating for extended periods of time before, and he knew that that only made fatigue a whole lot worse in the long run. That and you get all shaky, and nauseous, and just kind of overall miserable, and Akira had put up with enough shit already, he didn’t need to add low blood sugar to the mix. Still though, he felt as though he’d committed some sort of crime, much like waking a kitten when it sleeps on your lap.  
  
“Sorry to wake you up, Akira, I was just wondering if you were hungry?” Ryuji asked. Akira just stared at him with a blank expression. Ryuji knew that expression well. It was the same expression that he made whenever a teacher asked him a question, the ubiquitous face of ‘I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, my dude.’  
  
“Uh, food? Do you want food?” Ryuji tried again. Hopefully he understood that one because if it came down to charades Ryuji had no idea how the fuck to convey that with hand motions, other than possibly just sticking his hand in Akira’s mouth. No matter how chill Akira may be, he wasn’t super hyped about the idea of purposefully getting his flesh right up against those teeth. Thankfully, the universe decided to cut him some slack, as Akira’s ear fins perked up.  
  
“Yes,” Akira responded. The way he pronounced the ‘s’ sounded awfully similar to the noise that Futaba’s devil-cat made every time Ryuji had tried to approach it, but unlike Futaba’s devil-cat, (what was that thing’s name again? It started with an ‘M’. Mimi? Mumbo? Motherfucker? Yeah let’s go with Motherfucker), Akira did not try to take his hand off.  
  
“Alright cool, that’s kinda what I thought,” Ryuji mumbled to himself. “Hey, uh, Ann? How exactly are we going to do this?” He asked. Akira had laid his head back down on Ryuji’s lap, still awake, but clearly intent on just chilling for the time being.  
  
“Well, that’s actually a pretty good question,” Ann began. Shit. “Cause, uh, usually when feeding the um, I guess residents?, of the aquarium we use like, a crane, and they are, you know, in the water, at the time we feed them and all. Plus, there isn’t a whole lot of advice on how exactly feed mer cause, you know, they aren’t usually in captivity, or at least, not for long… the few cases I’ve heard of they like, knock the mer out, then drop some food in and leave before it wakes up so that they don’t like, lose an arm or anything…”  
  
“Yeah well we’re not gonna knock Akira out,” Ryuji said.  
  
“No, no, obviously. That’d be a really shitty thing to do. But there isn’t exactly a precedent for feeding a mer that’s actually chill because there isn’t a precedent of a mer actually being chill so uh… Mr. Sakura, what should we do?” Ann asked.  
  
Mr. Sakura eyed Akira for a second, his expression largely blank.  
  
“Well, I suppose we should just feed him.” Mr. Sakura said.  
  
“What?” Ann asked.  
  
“Just feed him. You come with me, we’ll go get some mackerel from the freezers, and let’s just give it to him. He seems docile enough, certainly real fond of your friend up there, and anything we might do to try and subdue him beforehand runs the risk of upsetting him or breaking his trust, which is about the last thing we want, so let’s just give him the fish. If he gets violent then obviously we’ll have to do something about that, but I see no point in risking this, frankly insane, sort of ‘truce’ you’ve got going here over something that might not even turn out to be a problem.” Mr. Sakura responded.  
  
“Oh, okay,” Ann said, seeming surprised with how well her boss was taking this. Ryuji couldn’t blame her; he’d only met the guy a few times but even from that he hadn’t exactly gotten a sense that this was a man known for a ‘go with the flow’ kind of attitude, but hey, the universe was full of surprises.  
  
“Alright, Takamaki-san and I will be gone for a few minutes to go get some food. Student Council,” Mr. Sakura said, pointing towards Makoto, “I’m putting you in charge while we’re gone.”  
  
“What?! Dad! Come on! Can’t I be in charge?” Futaba argued. Mr. Sakura, who was about halfway out the door at that point, turned to face his daughter.  
  
“Hell no.” he replied simply, before walking all the way out and letting the door slide shut behind him.  
  
“Aw come on! Laaaaame!” Futaba whined at the closed door, though she didn’t seem to be actually upset about it. Ryuji kind of had to agree with Mr. Sakura’s decision; he wouldn’t have left Futaba in charge of a houseplant, never mind a room full of other teenagers and a mer. Not that he was one to talk, but still.  
  
“Ryuji, would you mind shifting a little to the left and sitting up a bit straighter? The lighting in your current position is unappealing.” Yusuke piped up. Good god he’d almost forgotten that guy was here.  
  
“Dude, are you freaking serious?” Ryuji asked.  
  
“Of course I’m serious. Your face is almost entirely in shadow, and the colors look all… off. I’ve never been a fan of fluorescent lighting; it really does no one any aesthetic favors.” Yusuke stated.  
  
“Inari, you are a force of nature.” Futaba said, shaking her head in awe. Yusuke’s eye twitched at the nickname, a result of an ongoing joke about his pretty-boy looks, but other than that he made no indication that he’d heard her.  
  
“I must admit, I’m not entirely sure what ‘being in charge’ entails in this situation,” Makoto said.  
  
“It means you’re supposed to stop me and Ryuji from blowing up the aquarium,” Futaba replied.  
  
“Well that doesn’t exactly seem like a scenario I have to be too concerned about,” Makoto responded.  
  
“Wanna bet?” Futaba challenged, the grin on her face devilish.  
  
“No, I would not like to make that bet, thank you,” Makoto replied warily.  
  
“I’m not involved in this!” Ryuji called down.  
  
“Oh, yeah, I guess you wouldn’t want to be. I mean, if the aquarium gets blown up, what would happen to your fish boyfriend?” Futaba said.  
  
“Futaba I swear to god.” Ryuji threatened. She just laughed.  
  
“Whatcha gonna do to me, fish fucker-”  
  
“Futaba!” Interrupted Makoto, scandalized.  
  
“Whaaaat?” Futaba responded, “I’m just stating the facts! Sure, they haven’t boned yet, but it’s only a matter of time before we get full on Shape of Water up in here.”  
  
“BoOoNe!” Called Ryuji, at the same time that Yusuke said, “Oh, that was a beautifully made movie.”  
  
“BoOoNe!” Futaba shouted back.  
  
A brief competition began between the two of them, in which the word “bone” was repeated with increasingly ridiculous inflection and gestures. Akira didn’t seem phased, nor did he seem able to comprehend what exactly they were saying, which was a relief. Makoto looked tired, Mr. Sakura looked unimpressed-wait. Fuck when did he get here?  
  
He didn’t really have time to deal with the aftermath of Mr. Sakura’s unfortunate timing, (thank god), as the introduction of food into the scene had not gone unnoticed by Akira. Upon the entrance of Ann and Mr. Sakura, Akira’s head shot straight up, his ear fins flaring. The sudden change of demeanor prompted a laugh from Ryuji. Sure, now he was awake.  
  
As Ann approached with the bucket, Mr. Sakura having opted to stand over by the medical cabinets “just in case”, Akira stared at her. He was sitting straight up now, well, about as straight up as was possible for him, his arms locked in position, holding his upper body aloft in the air, kind of like that scene from The Little Mermaid where she’s on the rock but instead of a skinny redhead singing on a boulder in the middle of the ocean it was a spiky Japanese kid laying on top of bisexual disaster in an aquarium.  
  
All of Akira’s moveable fins were tucked in, minimizing the amount of red that was visible, save for his two ear fins, which were flared out in the way that Ryuji had come to understand meant he was paying attention, twitching ever so slightly at Ann’s every footstep. Akira’s eyes had gone wide, unblinking, his pupils contracted significantly. Ann hesitated, looking nervous.  
  
“Uh, I’m actually not super sure about this,” she said, eyeing Akira warily.  
  
“What the hell do you mean you’re not super sure about this? What’s there to be sure about?” Ryuji asked.  
  
“I really don’t like the way he’s staring at me right now,” Ann replied. Ryuji huffed.  
  
“Well you can’t really blame him, he’s hungry! If I were super hungry, and you came over here with a bucket full of burgers, and then just stood there without actually giving me the freaking burgers, I definitely would have tackled you by now,” he reasoned.  
  
“Yeah that’s great but you don’t have teeth capable of ripping my limbs clean off,” Ann retorted.  
  
“You don’t know that,” Ryuji joked.  
  
“I’m being serious, jackass. If he were to lunge at me he could kill me way before anyone here could stop him,” Ann responded. Akira had begun to vibrate slightly, the tension in his body seemingly becoming uncontainable as time dragged on. The end of his tail had begun moving slowly up and down, almost like he was trying to swim in the air. Ann shuddered.  
  
“See! That, that right there! He’s stalking!” She hissed, gesturing towards Akira.  
  
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ryuji replied.  
  
“It’s what he does when he’s hunting something Ryuji!” Ann said, her voice cracking slightly.  
  
“Yeah, you’ve got a bucket full of food!”  
  
“I don’t want him to attack me!”  
  
“Well then give the man his gotdamn fish already! He’s hungry, he’s been through a lot!”  
  
Ann shook her head, but seemingly steeled her nerves and started moving again. As she climbed up the stairs, Akira shifted his body to follow her, the movement silent and yeah, okay, a little bit unnerving. Ann muttered the whole way.  
  
“I swear to god if he kills me I’m coming for your ass. I will harness the power of pure, unadulterated spite and use it to manifest a physical form from beyond the grave just to beat the shit out of you- oh my god I don’t like that look on his face.”  
  
Once Ann finally got up to the platform, she hesitated, her face pale as she looked at Akira. Much as he liked the guy, Ryuji did have to admit that Akira looked pretty threatening right now.  
  
“Oh shit, Ryuji I do not trust that look on his face!” Ann whisper-shouted.  
  
“Then get rid of the fucking fish already!” Ryuji whisper-shouted back. Ann nodded, breathing pretty deeply.  
  
“Okay, right. Get rid of the fish,” she repeated, turning towards the water. She still kept an eye on Akira as she hefted the bucket up, then launched the fish into the water as far as she could. “Get rid of the fish, get rid of the fish, get rid of the- _oh fuck! _” She shrieked, darting backwards and very nearly falling off the platform. That time though, Ryuji couldn’t entirely blame her, because as soon as those fish had left the bucket Akira had lunged towards them at a speed that Ryuji’s mind could barely comprehend. One moment the mer had been on top of him, the next he was in the water. Alongside the splash from the water, Ryuji was pretty sure he felt a breeze caused by the sheer velocity of Akira’s movement.  
  
Down below, it seemed as though the others had not been spared the shock of Akira’s freakish speed. Even Mr. Sakura seemed surprised. Ann had her hand over her chest and was breathing hard, face still pale.  
  
“Jesus, I knew mer were fast but I was still not expecting that. Oh my god I thought he was gonna kill me. Oh my god that was terrible. Oh my god,” Ann muttered, shakily sitting down next to Ryuji.  
  
“Ooo he _HONGRY _!” Futaba stated, staring in awe at the blur of silver that darted around the tank.  
  
“Ann, are you okay?” Makoto asked. She’d yelped a little when Ann had nearly fallen off the platform, and had been nervously hovering near the area with the overall vibe of a well dressed anxious hummingbird.  
  
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just- just give me a minute. Wooh!” Ann replied, laughing.  
  
Ryuji watched, amazed, as Akira whipped around the tank, so fast he was nothing more than a blur, shredding the fish Ann had dropped in. Only a few of them actually made it all the way to the bottom intact, and even then it was for about half a second before Akira was upon them. The guy ate like he hadn’t had food in days, which, Ryuji realized with a pang in his gut, was actually pretty likely. In a matter of about fifteen seconds, Akira had managed to reduce every single fish to nothing more than a pile of bones, which he discarded on the floor before swimming back up. His return to the platform was considerably slower than his departure had been. This time, Ryuji was actually able to see the smooth, elegant motions of his tail as he swam back up towards the top of the tank.  
  
Upon breaking the surface of the water, Akira shook his head, much like a dog, to get his hair out from in front of his eyes. Ryuji stared. He couldn’t help it. To him, the scene moved practically in slow motion; black hair flying around a pale face, sending water droplets scattered about, and grey eyes opening to look at him. Like, come on! The guy was already gorgeous, and this was literally the shit they did in like, perfume ads or whatever. So not fair!  
  
The fact that Akira froze upon making eye contact made Ryuji suspect that he had a dumbass look on his face. Goddammit. Before he could really figure out what to do about that though, Akira bowed his head.  
  
“Sss-orr-y,” he said, visibly flinching. His ear fins were drooped, and he seemed genuinely nervous, but Ryuji couldn’t imagine why. What the hell was he apologizing for? Eating? Why would he think he needed to be sorry for that? They gave him the food in the first place.  
  
Apparently his lack of response was concerning, because after a second or two Akira glanced back up. The expression on his face was nervous, and his body language once again indicated that he was ready to bolt, which made absolutely no sense.  
  
Fortunately for Akira’s nerves, (and unfortunately for Ryuji’s little remaining dignity), Ryuji’s famous motormouth decided to step in.  
  
“Dude, that was fucking awesome! Holy shit! You’re like a fish-annihilating ninja or something!” He shouted. Ann snorted from right next to him and Ryuji once again was enveloped by the desire to to physically place his own foot in his mouth.  
  
Akira blinked at him. He seemed confused, but luckily no longer apprehensive or scared. Then, out of nowhere, he started laughing.  
  
Normally, Ryuji would have been absolutely mortified, like, ‘oh great, now the cute guy is laughing at you too! Better go jump into the nearest dumpster and wheel yourself out to sea!’, but this time, no such embarrassment overcame him because holy shit he’s even prettier now how is even prettier?!  
  
Akira’s laughter, much like the purring, was an actual, genuine indication of happiness, and it sent a powerful surge of… something, through Ryuji’s chest that left him reeling. He really, really liked it when Akira was happy. It just seemed so _right _, especially when he was the one making him happy. He wasn’t sure _why _, exactly, but he knew that he’d do anything to keep that smile on Akira’s face.  
  
A distant part of him noted that it was a little weird for him to suddenly be so devoted in such little time. The kind of devout loyalty and affection he felt for Akira was something that should take weeks, months, maybe even years for somebody to build up, and yet here he was after only a few hours. It was… off, somehow.  
  
He reasoned it away, citing the fact that he’d always been an extremely loyal person, and tended to bond to people pretty quickly after meeting them. Hell, he’d offered to square the fuck up with a fully grown man for Yusuke about half a day after meeting him, and he didn’t even like him that much at the time. Of course he’d get attached to Akira.  
  
Any further thought on the matter was quickly dismissed when Akira hefted himself up onto the platform and once again scooted himself over to Ryuji. This time though, instead of laying down in his lap, Akira rested his head on Ryuji’s shoulder, burying his face into the junction between his neck and left shoulder, still giggling. He snorted a little when he laughed, a fact that was absolutely adorable. More importantly, however: holy fucking fuck Akira was right. There.  
  
His left ear fin tickled the underside of Ryuji’s jaw. He could feel Akira’s face pressed into his skin, noticeably lacking breath from either his nose or mouth, but the soft fluttering feeling of the gills on the side of his neck moving answered that question. The mer’s arms encircled his torso, tighter than they had been earlier, but obviously not intending harm.  
  
Ryuji jolted at the feeling of something cold moving around his waist. What the fuck was that? He got his answer a second later in the form of Akira’s tail fin entering his line of vision, much closer than it should have been, which he took to mean that Akira had actually wrapped his tail around Ryuji. Holy shit, it was like a snake tail. Oh that was so cool!  
  
Ryuji returned the hug as best he could, (he was, sadly, incapable of coiling his lower body around another person), placing a hand atop Akira’s head to continue playing around with his hair, since he seemed really fond of that. Sure enough, that soft purr started up again, but before he could get a chance to really enjoy it, Ryuji’s soul suddenly ascended on a path to fucking Jupiter because holy shit, did Akira just _nuzzle _him? He was about 99.99% sure that was what had just happened. Ryuji had absolutely no idea how to respond to affection, especially not from an incredibly attractive guy who was literally sitting in his lap, so Akira’s gentle nuzzle against his neck sent his spirit catapulting into the stratosphere at a velocity previously thought impossible. This was the best day of his fucking life, and at this rate, his brain was going to be overloaded to a point where it would also be his last, and he was cool with that. Best to end things on a high note, after all.  
  
Next to him, Ann made a sound eerily similar to the honk of a goose.  
  
“Holy shit, Ryuji, you’re like mer catnip,” she choked out. At the sound of her voice, Akira’s ear fins perked up, and he pulled his head away from Ryuji’s neck, still resting on his shoulder, to look at her. Ann seemed surprised.  
  
“Oh! Uh, hi Akira!” She said. Akira regarded her for a second before talking.  
  
“N-ame?” He asked, his ‘n’ sounding more just like another ‘m’. Seemed that was another sound he had some difficulty with.  
  
“Oh god, right, we haven’t even introduced ourselves. Whoops. I’m Ann,” she said. Akira’s brow furrowed.  
  
“I think you might have been talking a little too fast for him to catch that,” Ryuji suggested.  
  
“Oops. Uh, Ann. My name is Ann,” Ann tried again, this time much slower, gesturing to herself as she spoke.  
  
“Aaa-nn?” Akira repeated, noticeably drawing out the vowel sound. He still had trouble with the ‘n’, so it did sound a bit more like he was saying ‘am’, but it was still understandable.  
  
“Yes, Ann,” she encouraged.  
  
“He-llo Aaa-nn,” Akira said, seeming pretty proud of himself. Ryuji thought that was fair; he had every right to be proud. If he was in Akira’s position, trying to talk to a bunch of mer, (assuming of course they hadn’t just gone straight to ripping his face off), he was pretty sure he was physically incapable of making a lot of the sounds they used to communicate.  
  
With that, Akira turned to look at the rest of the room, eyes eventually settling on Makoto, who stood the closest.  
  
“N-ame?” He asked. Oh, so he was trying to meet everyone? Well, it was probably about time.  
  
“Makoto,” she replied, speaking slowly and gesturing to herself. Seemed like she’d learned from the other two experiences and decided to just cut the bullshit. “Hello Akira.”  
  
“He-llo Ma-ko-to,” Akira replied. Much like with Ryuji’s name, he didn’t seem to have a whole lot of trouble with Makoto’s. Harsher sounds seemed to come easier to him than soft ones. If that particular observation was to be believed, he should have a hell of a time with Futaba.  
  
Yusuke was up next.  
  
“N-ame?” Akira asked. Having gotten the gist of what was going on, Yusuke responded quickly.  
  
“Hello Akira, my name is Yusuke,” he said. Akira grimaced a little.  
  
“He-llo Yu-sss-ke,” he said. It looked like ‘s’ sounds were an issue for him as well, and he ommitted the second ‘u’, but it was still comprehensible. Seeming to notice Akira’s trouble, Yusuke smiled.  
  
“Good job,” he encouraged, and that seemed to do the trick, as Akira’s fins perked up slightly upon hearing the reassurance. Last but not least…  
  
“N-ame?” Akira asked. Futaba, who looked pretty miffed at being the last, responded.  
  
“Hi Akira! My name’s Futaba!” She said, clearly having to make a great effort not to talk too fast. Akira winced, and took a second before replying.  
  
“He-llo Ffuu-ta-ba,” he said, and sure enough, the first syllable of her name was almost incomprehensible. It seemed he hadn’t figured out how exactly to make the ‘f’ sound. Futaba didn’t seem upset in the slightest about the mispronounce, instead just super excited about talking to a mer. Suddenly, her eyes lit up.  
  
“Holy shit I’ve just had the greatest idea ever! You guys wait here, I have to go grab something from home. I won’t be long, it’s like, next door,” she chattered. Mr. Sakura raised an eyebrow.  
  
“Hold on a minute what exactly are you doing?” He asked, noticeably (and understandably) wary of what his daughter had in mind.  
  
“Something that absolutely _must _be shown to Akira. The future of science itself hinges on this one great interaction! It is of literally vital importance that I see how this plays out! I’ll be right back! I won’t be long but keep me updated! If those two bang I want photographic evidence okay bye!” Futaba shouted, dashing out of the room before any of its inhabitants could fully process what she’d just said.  
  
“Mr. Sakura do you know what exactly she’s talking about?” Makoto asked. Mr. Sakura just sighed.  
  
“Honestly, I don’t want to know,” he responded. Understandable.  
  
A minute or two then passed. Akira, seeming content with having formally met all of the room’s occupants, tucked his face back up against Ryuji’s neck, purring like a freaking car engine as Ryuji tried not to explode. Yusuke had moved on to another page since Akira’s position change and was once again sketching furiously. Ann finally walked back down the stairs and went to stand next to Makoto, the two making light conversation as they waited for whatever bizzare scheme Futaba was about to unleash.  
  
True to her word, Futaba returned after about five minutes. She was pink in the face and breathing heavily, a sign that she’d run most of the journey, but she was smiling like a madwoman, and in her arms was… actually Ryuji couldn’t tell what it was from this angle.  
  
The mysterious object was somewhat large, and mostly black with a few spots of white. It looked soft, and Ryuji was settling on it being some kind of pillow until it moved. Bright blue eyes stared back at him, and both he and the ‘mysterious object’ froze at the sight of their mortal enemy.  
  
“Oh HELL no!” Ryuji shouted.  
  
Futaba had bought none other than Motherfucker himself.____________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm supposed to be studying for finals. Pfft. Skip that nonsense; have some gay bullshit instead.


	8. Mlem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Attention everybody, we have made first contact. The process was a lot gayer and the results a lot weirder than we may have expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's play a fun game called "see if _you _can spot all the places where the author is projecting their own emotional/mental problems onto a character!"__ I'll give you a hint; it really isn't subtle. 
> 
>  
> 
> __  
> _Also, I know the story has been full of it already, but just another reminder about vulgarity and the fact that if you are not a fan of it I do apologize. I tried to make them talk and act like actual teenagers as best I could, and actual teenagers are the worst when it comes to that, so... yeah, enjoy!_  
> 

Akira was pushing his luck, and he knew that. He wasn’t stupid; he knew it was always better to quit while you were ahead, to not take great streaks of fortune for granted least you end up crashing, but he couldn’t help it. Much as he might know better than to keep testing somebody’s boundaries, he found himself going for it anyway, compelled to do so by something beyond his control. Probably loneliness, if he was being honest, but he didn’t want to be.  
  
He’d been in a similar circumstance before, a few times actually, when he’d come across pods of other mer in the sea who tolerated his presence instead of either leaving or chasing him off the second he was noticed. It was from such encounters that he was able to learn about mer and their culture, the others willing to humor him and his questions, but he’d always inevitably screwed it up by pushing too far, by confusing a lack of overt hostility with the presence of affection.  
  
One such encounter had occured when Akira was around nine winters old, close to ten as it was growing colder at that time. The pod had consisted of five other mer, their size suggesting that they were perhaps only one or two winters his senior, so around his same age. He’d always found he’d had better luck with those around his same age; those who were younger considered him a threat and swam off, those who were older considered him… well he wasn’t entirely sure what they’d considered him, as he’d never stuck around long enough to let himself get caught and find out. Probably food.  
  
It had been a female that noticed him lurking, with reddish-pink scales and dark hair. When she’d locked eyes with him he’d braced himself to flee, knowing he’d positioned himself far enough away to be able to successfully escape, but she hadn’t lunged for him. Instead, she’d just eyed him over, clearly sizing him up, before turning back to talk with her podmates.  
  
Of course he couldn’t have just been content with that. Instead, he’d slowly approached the pod, encouraged when each successive mer mimicked the first in noticing, then subsequently ignoring him. It was as close to an invitation as he was going to get.  
  
Akira had started talking with the smallest male, still slightly larger than himself, who’d humored him for a while. He’d asked a couple questions, gotten a few terse answers, and then the pod had gone to move on. He should’ve just stopped there, and at the time he’d known it, but he’d pushed his luck anyway, moving to follow after the mer he’d been talking to, and that was when the guy decided he’d had enough.  
  
The swipe of claws against Akira’s torso were shallow, not deep enough to actually cause harm but painful enough to successfully communicate the message the other mer then underscored with a deep hiss; ‘back off’. Akira had darted away, praying to the spirits that he hadn’t pissed him off badly enough to warrant the effort that chasing him would require. Thankfully, his retreat had seemed satisfactory, as the other mer and his pod had then just moved on, leaving Akira alone to curse his own stupidity.  
  
‘Just because they aren’t straight up nasty doesn’t mean they like you,’ he’d reminded himself, ‘quit pushing your luck. Tolerance doesn’t equal amicability.’ He knew that. He knew that, and many similar encounters continued to remind him of it over the years.  
  
So of course, the moment he encounters a human, a creature known for being both unpredictable and sadistic, a creature that could and likely would hurt him in terrible ways if he slipped up, one would think he’d use the most caution he could muster. One would think he’d be more careful than he’d ever been in this scenario, metaphorically sneaking past a kraken’s den. In reality though, one would have to be stupid to assume he ever learned his lesson.  
  
Like an idiot, Akira pushed his luck.  
  
As he found himself wrapping his tail around the human’s waist, Akira’s mind was a discordant chorus of prayers to the Spirits and curses to himself. The motion had been an unconscious one, an instinctual behavior he had known existed from observation but had not known himself to possess. By the time he noticed he was doing it, he was way too late to stop it or play it off. His only hope was that the meaning behind the action got lost in translation, because as far as oversteps went, he’d just gone for gold.  
  
The twining of tails was podmate behavior. No, more than that, it was mate behavior. Podmates wrapping just the ends of their tails together was not uncommon, and was indeed a common display of affection, but this? To coil the entire tail around another? This was more. This was intimate. Not intimate in the same way as touching decorative tail fins, mind you, this wasn’t sexual (he may be desperate but he still had some fucking decency, unlike some people), but it was an expression of closeness beyond simply that of a podship. It was unity, it was love, it was really fucking forward of him to try and pull this shit like, almost immediately after meeting this guy. The mating display was one thing; now he was behaving as though they were already bonded. His one saving grace was that Ryuji should logically have no idea what his action meant. Humans didn’t have tails, it was physically impossible for them to entwine, so they would have no reason to comprehend it.  
  
Once again, Ryuji stood as a bastion of destroyed expectations, as he not only accepted Akira’s embrace but returned it, even going so far as to resume the petting, fingers gently brushing through dark hair in a way that sent Akira spiraling back into that odd haze from earlier, even stronger this time. The bewitching calm once again had that strange effect of making Akira feel… distant. When he found himself nuzzling his face into Ryuji, again being wildly forward in behaving as though the two were already bonded, his logical brain’s shrieking was present, sure, but seemed far away and muffled, as if shouting across as great distance, its voice dulled by the pleasant fog that surrounded him.  
  
Akira imagined he must look rather dazed at the moment. He had seen other mer with spacey eyes and sluggish movements before, but only after they consumed a bunch of those strange small sponges he saw growing on rocks in the shallows from time to time. He’d never known a mer to grow hazy simply from contact, but he supposed his knowledge was limited.  
  
And again, even these thoughts seemed to come from far away. He knew that he should be mortified, horror-struck, over being so overly affectionate with a human he still technically barely knew. Consciously, he was very much aware of the fact that he was being too forward and clingy (quite objectively, as he was literally clinging to this guy with all three limbs at the moment), and that he needed to back off. He heard all of these things, but found himself unable to feel a single one of them. Instead he felt… happy. Funny, it had taken him a couple seconds to realize that’s what the buzzing emotion was, as happiness was foreign to him in more ways than one.  
  
The blonde girl, who had yet to leave the platform from where she had collapsed after tossing in the mackerel, made a somewhat frightening, (though non-threatening) sound, before saying something to Ryuji. By now, Akira was almost certain that the other humans in the room, save for Mistersakra, were a pod. He hadn’t though that humans would have pods, but the comfort level of the adolescents with each other, as well as the fact that they did seem to be a group fit the bill well enough that he could think of no other real explanation. If that was true though, that meant he had committed yet another grave error in socializing with these humans.  
  
Originally, he had assumed the humans operated on a dominance structure, with Ryuji being the head of the unit. This had made perfect sense at the time; dominance structures seemed to be incredibly common in nature, with the loudest and strongest being the one who controlled the others, and indeed from his observations of humans he had seen such a scenario multiple times in their species. Almost every time he witnessed an interaction between groups of humans there was always one who seemed to take the lead, usually the biggest or the loudest, and the others would just follow along. Ryuji had fit the bill perfectly; he was plenty noisy, he approached Akira first, and his snaps at the females had indicated he was powerful enough not to have to fear their retribution. Had he been considering pod structure at the time, Akira would’ve taken far less heed to that last one. If they were podmates, then female or not he’d have no genuine violence to fear. But of course, Akira had neglected to consider the possibility, having simply thought humans to be too violent for it.  
  
Now though, it appeared incredibly likely that, somehow, these humans were actually a pod, which meant that Akira had royally screwed up (again). See, in a dominance structure, it logically made sense to simply address the leader. To do otherwise might even be dangerous, as the leader may believe you to be insulting them by refusing to acknowledge them first, and those types didn’t tend to take insults well. Though it was incredibly rare, there were mer that functioned on dominance structures, typically those that tended to reside in the deeper, colder waters that Akira generally stayed away from. He’d seen them before, and though he’d been smart enough not to approach, he’d seen how they interacted with others.  
  
In a pod however, the insult lie in refusing to acknowledge the pod as a whole. Pods functioned as a unit, so closely connected to one another that even their souls experienced some degree of synchronization. It was incredibly rude to interact with any member of a pod before introductions with the entire pod, seen almost as a direct insult to the bonds of the pod itself. His only hope was that synchronization played a role with humans as well, and carried Ryuji’s seemingly endless patience across the spirits of the other members, making them able to forgive his delayed introductions.  
  
Akira turned first to the blonde girl next to him, who seemed surprised at his sudden attention. Spirits, he really had been ignoring them all, hadn’t he? What was with him all of a sudden? Had he somehow just forgotten every single rule of social interaction? Apparently.  
  
“Oh! Uh, hi Akira!” She greeted. Akira eyed her over. She didn’t sound upset, and nothing in her body language suggested otherwise. He figured it was probably safe to keep going, and even if it wasn’t he still had to do this anyway. It was his fault for failing to consider the possibility, and he planned on taking responsibility for that mistake. Ryuji had been kind to him in a way he doubted he would ever be able to properly thank him for; the least he could do was try to right his insult.  
  
“N-ame?” Akira asked her. He was pretty sure that was the right word. If it wasn’t, that could present some serious problems.  
  
“Oh god, right, we haven’t even introduced ourselves. Whoops. I’m Ann,” the girl replied. Akira blinked. He understood… none of that. Oh claspers now what was he supposed to do? He didn’t know how to ask her to slow down, and he had to say something, but if he were to just try and repeat what he thought it was there was a pretty good chance he’d get it wrong, which was also bad. Was it worse to not say anything or get it wrong? It had been long enough now that it was starting to get awkward. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck-  
  
“I think you might have been talking a little too fast for him to catch that,” Ryuji suddenly said. Spirits bless this flashy human boy, he had an uncanny knack for being able to save Akira’s sorry fins when the need arose.  
  
“Oops. Uh, Ann. My name is Ann,” the girl tried again, and thank the glowing ones she was much slower this time. From the sound of it her name was ‘Ann’. Short, not terribly flat, good, he could work with that. Just to be sure though…  
  
“Aaa-nn?” He tried. Humans did seem to have longer names in general, so it was possible he’d misheard.  
  
“Yes, Ann,” she repeated. Well alright then, looks like he’d gotten in the first (okay, second) time.  
  
“He-llo Aaa-nn,” Akira greeted. He had to admit, he was pretty proud of himself for managing not to butcher that one as badly as he thought he would. Granted, he did still butcher it, but if the look on her face was any indication, he’d been close enough. That was the other thing he was proud of; the way both she and Ryuji were smiling at him, happy with him. Similar to the way he’d felt when he’d first seen Ryuji staring at him not long ago, Akira found that he got an almost euphoric sense of pride from pleasing people. Or maybe it was just Ryuji? He didn’t know; it wasn’t exactly like he’d had a whole bunch of interactions with others in the first place to compare with. Honestly, that lack of interaction was probably why he got this in the first place.  
  
Having succeeded with Ann, Akira shifted his focus to the other adolescents in the room, finally settling on the brown haired female who lingered closest to the tank, and whose eyes kept darting from him to Ann. Were they mated? Possibly. Pods tended to be close enough that it could be hard to tell whether people were mates or not from a distance.  
  
“N-ame?” He asked.  
  
“Makoto,” the girl replied, her voice slow and clear. Evidently she’d learned from watching his struggle to interact with Ann and decided to just cut the spikes and be as direct as possible. He appreciated that, just as much as he appreciated her having a name that was relatively easy for him to pronounce. “Hello Akira,” she said, and that certainly got his attention. Normally people waited for the intruder to finish acknowledging the entire pod before interacting with them. Her doing otherwise was… nice. It indicated both forgiveness of his mistake and a disregard for his status as a solo.  
  
“He-llo Ma-ko-to,” he greeted, proudly noticing that he got that one almost spot on. So far, Ryuji was still in first place for most pronounceable name, but at least they were all turning out as bad as ‘Mistersakra’. He supposed he shouldn’t get too ahead of himself on that front though; there were still two more to go, (which reminded him, wasn’t there a sixth member of their pod yesterday?).  
  
Akira turned to the next closest human, one with flat, shiny black hair of indeterminate sex. From the width of the shoulders and overall size he guessed male, (although again, he still wasn’t entirely sure how humans worked on that front), but it didn’t really matter.  
  
“N-ame?” Akira asked. By now the humans seemed to know what was going on.  
  
“Hello Akira, my name is Yusuke,” he said. One would think that by now Akira would be less easily caught off guard by the humans’ strange behavior, but yet again he found himself surprised. Addressing him before even introducing themself? It was almost as if he was someone important. Akira wasn’t really sure what to do with that. Speaking of not being sure what to do with things, how in the name of all things living was he supposed to pronounce that?  
  
“He-llo Yu-sss-ke,” he tried, and oh wow did he hump the fire coral on that one. Despite his glowing failure, however, the human, Yusuke, smiled at him.  
  
“Good job,” Yusuke encouraged, and Akira couldn’t stop his fins from perking up. He was happy, Great Spirits was he happy with being treated like this, but he was so confused. Why? He was a solo who’d been dumb enough to get himself caught and injured and then spent the rest of his time making a pathetic fool out of himself. What possible reason did these humans have to treat him like he was important? He decided to keep going before he let himself get too caught up in that.  
  
The last human left was the smallest, the orange haired female with the odd shiny object on her face. Akira had to admit that out of all of them, she was probably the one he was the most uncertain of. The other two females, Ann and Makoto as he now knew they were called, were strange. They were far calmer and more reserved than female mer tended to be, which threw him for a bit of a loop. This one on the other hand was much more familiar. She was wily and about as loud as Ryuji, never seeming to stand entirely still. It didn’t help that humans had no fins, and that the reflection of the artificial lights in the room glinted off the device on her face, obscuring her eyes so that Akira had no real way to tell if she was going to attack or not.  
  
“N-ame?” He asked, and the unruly human responded quickly. Not too fast for him to decipher, but close to it.  
  
“Hi Akira! My name’s Futaba!” She said, once again following that odd pattern of addressing him first. He found that even more baffling when it came from someone who seemed so similar to the types he’d met before. More importantly though, what in the blasphemous, scale-rotting fuck was that name? Especially that first part; what in the name of the Spirits’ sweeping tentacles was that sound? How the shit did they even make that?  
  
“He-llo Ffuu-ta-ba,” he tried, and okay, in his defense, he did get the last part basically spot on. The first part though, he may or may not have completely boned. Once again though, his gross mispronunciations went without complaint.  
  
Out of seemingly nowhere, the orange haired girl, Futaba, (fuck it was hard to even think that sound. Screw it, he was just gonna call her Baba), jolted.  
  
“Holy shit! I’ve just had the greatest idea ever! You guys wait here, I have to go grab something from home. I won’t be long, it’s like, next door,” she chattered, far too fast for Akira to have even a hope of comprehending.  
  
The adult, who’d been off in the corner observing, seemed to take interest in whatever she had just said.  
  
“Hold on a minute, what exactly are you doing?” He asked. Akira understood that to be a question of action, indicating that perhaps Baba was planning on doing something that Mistersakra didn’t approve of. That was weird though; clearly he wasn’t a member of the pod, so why would he care?  
  
“Something that absolutely must be done! I need to show this thing to Akira! The future of science itself hinges on this one great interaction! It is of literally vital importance that I see how this plays out! I’ll be right back! I won’t be long but keep me updated! If those two bang I want photographic evidence okay bye!” Baba shouted, dashing out of the room. Akira caught his own name in there somewhere, and if Ryuji’s sputtering was anything to go by she’d also said something that he’d found to be offensive or embarrassing in some way, but other than that Akira had absolutely no clue what had just transpired. Did all adolescent humans talk that fast? Frankly it was kinda ridiculous.  
  
Some time then passed. Ann climbed back down to go stand near Makoto, Yusuke continued doing… whatever it was that he’d been doing nearly the entire time with that big square and little stick, and Akira placed his head back on Ryuji’s shoulder. The human could push him off any time he wanted to once decided he’d put up with Akira for long enough, but until then Akira planned to keep enjoying the physical comfort while it lasted. He’d never had a chance like this before and odds were he wasn’t going to get one again, so even though it was selfish he was going to get as much out of it as possible.  
  
Not long after, the doors slid back open to reveal Baba, seeming tired but still smiling wide in a way that just radiated mischief. In her arms was… something. It was black, with little spots of white near the edges, and though it was hard to tell from a distance it almost looked kind of like… hair? Akira had no idea what that could possibly be, or why she’d hurried off in such a rush to go get it, and he especially had no idea why she looked so devious about having it.  
  
Then it moved.  
  
\---------------------------------  
  
Ryuji had met Motherfucker only once in his lifetime, and that was about twenty more times than he needed to. Yes, you heard that right; the optimal amount of interaction with Motherfucker was approximately -21 encounters per lifespan. How does one have a negative amount of encounters? Irrelevant.  
  
He’d never had a whole lot of experience with animals. Growing up, his dad was too much of a shithead to support a wife and child, never mind an animal that couldn’t think for or defend itself, and even after escaping that hellhole he still didn’t get much of a chance, because the crap apartment he and his mom moved to didn’t allow pets. The couple times he’d interacted with animals he’d liked them; dogs in particular were a favorite, so when Ann warned him that she was cat-sitting, he’d actually been excited. Sure, he knew that cats and dogs were different, but both of them were fluffy, and that was about as far as Ryuji had cared.  
  
He was soon to discover, however, that what awaited him was not, in fact, a cuddly little playmate. Instead, upon arriving at Ann’s he was greeted by none other than Satan himself.  
  
From a distance, Motherfucker had appeared fine. Cute, even. But that facade was shattered the moment he sat down on the couch.  
  
As soon as his buttcheeks met the cushions, pain had erupted in his left ankle. Ryuji had yelled and looked down to find the white-furred maw of Motherfucker latched, unremittingly, around his achilles tendon. He’d managed to shake the little bastard off, resisting the urge to punt it straight into the wall, and had been met with confusion from Ann.  
  
“That’s weird, he’d never done that before,” she’d said, “Normally he’s like, super cuddly,”  
  
Rationalizing it as some sort of bizarre mistake, (perhaps he’d stepped on the things tail on accident?), the two had laughed it off, and indeed for a moment it had almost seemed true. When Ann had plopped down on the couch next to him, Motherfucker had curled right up to her, purring in such a sweet way that Ryuji could almost forgive the pain in his foot.  
  
Thirty seconds later he had teeth in his hand.  
  
The rest of his visit had been spent with Motherfucker either trying to get down Ann’s shirt, (seriously, that thing adored her, wanted to be as close as possible), or attempting to murder Ryuji. He narrowly avoided losing an eye when it had sneak attacked him from the banister by the hall, dodging to the side as claws swiped straight for his left eye socket, but had been unable to avoid other injuries, which included but were not limited to: scratch on the forearm, bite to the toes, claws to the shoulder dangerously close to his neck, claws to the thigh, bite to the face, a lovely combination of teeth and claws to the calf, and just about every other combination of natural weapons and Ryuji’s flesh that you could think of. By the time he’d left he was bleeding from several areas of his body, and to this day had a few scars left over from Motherfucker’s rampage. Why that cat hated him so much was a mystery, but after spending about a solid twelve minutes at home bandaging up countless stinging cuts all over his body, the feeling was pretty fucking mutual.  
  
“I think what you meant to say, Ryuji, was oh hell yes,” Futaba said. Ryuji scowled.  
  
“Uh-uh. Absolutely not. We are not bringing Motherfucker into this,” he said. Futaba made a choking noise.  
  
“Wait, what did you just call him?”  
  
“You heard me,”  
  
“His name’s Morgana,”  
  
“Yeah, that’s what I said: Motherfucker,”  
  
“No, Morgana. Did your new boyfriend’s purring fuck up your ears or something?”  
  
“His name’s Motherfucker as far as I’m concerned,”  
  
“Yeah well you’re not calling him that,”  
  
“Well what would you prefer I call him? Nippy Little Shit? Satan? Hell’s Messenger?”  
  
“I would prefer you call him by his name,”  
  
“What do you mean? I’ve been doing that this whole time,”  
  
“Guys,” Makoto finally cut in, “would you mind putting a rest to your pointless arguing for long enough to find out why exactly Futaba felt the need to bring her cat?”  
  
“Thank you, Makoto. Seriously Ryuji, you’re so immature!” Futaba taunted.  
  
“I was very much also referring to you in that statement,” Makoto stated bluntly. Ann snorted.  
  
“Oh whatever mom. Anyway, before fish fucker so rudely started complaining-”  
  
“Oh piss off!”  
  
“Love you too fish fucker. I was going to say that I brought in Morgana to see what he and Akira think of each other. I bet you about 100,000 yen that no mer on earth, or in space if there happen to be space mer, has ever actually seen a cat up close!” Futaba said.  
  
“Yeah there’s probably a reason for that,” Ryuji responded. Futaba just ignored him.  
  
“Plus, think about it guys, Akira and Morgana have parallels! Both of them purr, both of them seem to have strong feelings about Ryuji, though admittedly on the opposite ends of the spectrum; it’s too good of an opportunity to pass up!” She said.  
  
“I’m calling bullshit on that last part,” Ryuji mumbled.  
  
“Yeah well too bad Aquaman, this train’s already started rolling. At least try to pretend that you don’t hate Morgana, just for a second,” Futaba said.  
  
“And why the fuck should I have to do that?” Ryuji asked.  
  
“Because, buttmunch, Akira really seems to like you for some reason beyond my comprehension. If you act like you hate something right of the bat he’s probably just gonna go with your judgement rather than actually checking it out!”  
  
“Good!”  
  
“No, not good! Come on, Ryuji, don’t be a dick!”  
  
“I’m being a dick? That fluffy little shit-mongerer tried to carve my eye out!”  
  
“In fairness, Ryuji, that’s kind of a natural response. Akira here is a massive exception, but in general most creatures, when confronted with the situation that is… you, naturally resort to their fight or flight response,”  
  
“Remind me again why I’m friends with you?”  
  
“Because we’re both terrible and terrible people gotta stick together now suck it up and let me introduce my cat to your boyfriend,”  
  
“Fine,” Ryuji grumbled, “but the second I see that bastard go in for an attack I’m throwing it into the tank,”  
  
“Do that and I swear to god I will put a raccoon in your futon,” Futaba responded.  
  
“Well that’s a very specific threat,”  
  
“You bet your ass it is. Why are you so uptight about this, anyway? You afraid that once Akira encounters pussy he’ll ditch you?” Futaba taunted.  
  
“Futaba, for the love of god!” Mr. Sakura shouted, scandalized. Ryuji was frankly surprised it had taken him that long to jump in. The sudden loud noise seemed to have startled Akira, who jolted slightly, clawed hands gripping Ryuji’s jacket. Other than that though, he didn’t seem upset, which was good, and a few soft scratches had him relaxing again. Futaba had turned pink, apparently having forgotten she was still in the presence of her father.  
  
“Sorry dad! I, uh, I meant cat! It’s also a word for cat, so uh-”  
  
“We all know what you meant just… don’t. You’re my daughter, and hearing the word ‘pussy’ come out of my daughter’s mouth in any context is not something I ever wanted to experience,”  
  
“Sorry,” Futaba muttered, and she did actually look pretty sheepish. Ryuji knew the feeling; sometimes you get started on a joke and then you look back and realize ‘oh boy, that was actually just terrible’. It was a horribly common occurrence for those cursed with a mouth that ran faster than the brain, but there was something about making that kind of slip up in front of a parent that made it all the more mortifying. Ryuji remembered the time about a year or so ago when he’d been unable to stop himself from making a joke about lobsters being great at scissoring not five feet from his mother. She hadn’t actually said anything, but the look on her face had made him want to go sign up for that whole living or mars thing and get off the planet as soon as possible. He could only assume that Futaba was currently feeling the same way.  
  
“So what exactly is your plan here, Futaba? Do you intend just to show Morgana off to Akira from a distance? Or do you instead plan on getting the two of them up close?” Makoto asked, thankfully managing to cut the tension.  
  
“Are you kidding me? I’m not about to just dangle my cat in the air like I’m that weirdo monkey from the Lion King, we’re gonna get full on first contact in here these two are gonna get face to face and Ann, I’m counting on you to record it,” Futaba replied, seeming grateful to get back to the main topic instead of having to confront her earlier blunder for any longer.  
  
Ryuji made a face at Morgana, who seemed to have spotted Ann and was wriggling around in Futaba’s arms to go get to her, then looked back down at Akira. Akira had taken notice of the room’s new occupant, red ear fins fanned out to the sides like a much more attractive version of that one dinosaur from Jurassic Park, eyes locked onto Morgana with an unblinking intensity that uneasily reminded Ryuji of the way he’d been eyeballing the fish earlier.  
  
“Uh, Futaba? I don’t wanna be the one to break this to you, but I suppose somebody has to; have you considered the very real possibility that Akira might eat your cat?” Ryuji asked. True, Akira had not shown any signs of unprovoked violence so far, but somehow he highly doubted that mer had a concept of pets, meaning Akira would really have no way of knowing that he wasn’t supposed to eat the strange creature he was presented with.  
  
“Oooh, yeah, shit, that’s a good point,” Ann muttered. Futaba was starting to look hesitant.  
  
“Well that… wouldn’t be great, but what do you think the odds of that are? He did just eat a whole lot of fish like, five minutes ago, and Morgana is kinda-”  
  
“Fat?” Ryuji offered  
  
“He is not fat shitlord, I was going to say large compared to the mackerel!”  
  
“So, fat?”  
  
“Go eat ass. My point is, even if Akira does think Morgana is food, is he really going to be hungry enough to try eating him in the first place?” Futaba asked.  
  
“Well you did see how fast he ate those fish, right? Poor dude probably hasn’t seen food in a while, and it’s not like we saw him choose to stop eating, he just stopped because he was out of fish. So I dunno, he might still be hungry,” Ryuji stated. While he was not a fan of Morgana, (to put it lightly), he still didn’t want to see the demonic little furball get eaten, especially not by Akira. A: that would be really fucked up, B: Futaba and Ann would be super upset, C: They’d probably get super mad at Akira and freak him out- basically it would just be an all around bad scene.  
  
“If we are still drawing cinematic parallels between this scene and The Shape of Water, then Akira eating Morgana would actually be a perfect fit,” Yusuke chimed in, unhelpfully.  
  
“Can it, Inari!” Futaba shrieked, and she did look nervous now. Ryuji sighed. Well now he felt bad, dammit.  
  
“Okay, how about this? You bring Motherfucker up here, but stay, like on the top of the stairs for a minute so you’re not within launching distance. I know Akira can move like, freakishly fast, but he’s kinda tangled up with me right now so I don’t think he’d be able to lunge like that again, so you should be good. I’ll try and convey to him that Morgana is not food, and once I think that message has gotten across you can… do whatever the fuck it is you were planning on doing, so long as you at least try to keep that little monster far enough away from me that it can’t try to kill me again, deal?” Ryuji proposed. Futaba thought it over for about half a second before grinning.  
  
“Well would you look at that? Ryuji does have a brain! Get the camera guys, this is a serious milestone; Ryuji’s first coherent planning! Oh I’m so proud!” She teased. Ann snorted, and Ryuji just glared.  
  
“Futaba are you really sure you wanna be testing me right now? Because I swear to god I will push you into that tank,”  
  
“Oh will you now?”  
  
“I won’t hesitate, bitch. Now get up here,” Ryuji joked.  
  
“Alright, alright, I’m coming,” Futaba laughed. She didn’t seem nearly as nervous as she had before, and Ryuji was thankful for that. It was always weird seeing Futaba be serious, and he didn’t like it. This group only had room for one anxious, rational person and that was Makoto.  
  
As Futaba climbed up the stairs, Ryuji looked back at Akira, whose eyes were still focused on Morgana. Luckily, his expression didn’t carry with it the same hunger that it had held when Ann had the giant bucket of fish, but it was still more intense than Ryuji was necessarily comfortable with. Alright, how was he gonna do this?  
  
\------------------------------  
  
Akira was dumbstruck. Was that thing alive? It certainly looked like it was. He supposed it made sense that there would be living things other than humans outside the ocean, after all, it wasn’t as if mer were the only things populating the sea, but still, this thing looked radically different. He’d seen bugs before, as well as the loud flying things with beaks that hung out around the docks, but the thing in Baba’s arms resembled neither of those two examples.  
  
Ryuji and Baba seemed to be arguing, and indeed Akira had noticed a sudden spike of aggression from Ryuji the moment Baba had entered the room with the… thing, a fact which put Akira on edge as much as it confused him. Ryuji certainly didn’t seem to like the thing, which would normally indicate it was some sort of threat, but it couldn’t be; none of his other podmates looked even remotely threatened, and it was a member of his pod who had introduced it in the first place. Right, Baba was his podmate, and podmates would never purposefully endanger each other, so whatever that thing was it couldn’t actually be dangerous. That still begged the question though; what in the Spirits’ names was it, and why did Ryuji not like it?  
  
Clearly, it was some sort of animal, that much he could figure out. But beyond that, he had no ideas, and that made him uncomfortable. While Baba wouldn’t harm members of her own pod, Akira was still an outsider, and therefore exempt from that protection. Whatever that thing was could very well hurt him. Now, he wanted to believe that Ryuji wouldn’t let that happen, but he berated himself for that thought the second it came up. What, someone shows you affection for five seconds and suddenly you’re special? Get ahold of yourself!  
  
Mistersakra suddenly shouted and Akira startled, thankfully managing to hold back the yelp that threatened to escape his throat at the sound. He did not feel like making himself look any more pathetic than he already had, thanks. Ryuji seemed to have noticed his reaction, but didn’t seem at all disgusted or disappointed, which was a relief. Instead, he just continued toying with Akira’s hair and scratching, and once again Akira proved embarrassingly weak to it, decompressing in a matter of seconds. Sound really did travel differently out of water. He hadn’t liked loud noises before, but they were even worse out in the open air. Thankfully, Mistersakra had stopped yelling, and it looked like he was mad with Baba about something, not Akira, which was good.  
  
The humans continued talking amongst themselves, the thing in Baba’s arms now wiggling around in a way that Akira had never really seen anything move. He heard his name pop up a few times, but they weren’t talking to him, rather, about him. It admittedly made him a little nervous, since they were speaking fast enough that he couldn’t understand them, but he supposed he was fine with it.  
  
After a particularly long conversation with Ryuji, Baba began to approach the tank and mount the stairs up towards him, the thing in her arms having mostly stopped squirming as she moved. Seriously, what the fuck was that? She stopped at the top of the stairs, still a fair distance away from him, and Akira was wondering why just as Ryuji called his attention.  
  
“Akira?” Ryuji said, and Akira turned to look at him. “That’s Morgana. Akira; Morgana. Morgana; Akira,” he said, gesturing from the thing in Baba’s arms to Akira and back again, exactly like he had when introducing Mistersakra. Wait, what the fuck? Did that mean that the thing was another human? What the _fuck? _  
  
“Not food,” Ryuji said, gesturing toward the thing, er, Morgana. Yeah, he’d gathered that on account of being introduced to it. Typically you don’t get introduced to something you’re going to eat.  
  
Akira’s mind was still reeling. How was that a human? It didn’t look like one! What was he supposed to do with this information? No, no, no; he had to ask. This was insane.  
  
“Hu-man?” Akira asked, gawking at Morgana before turning back to Ryuji. His expression must’ve been a good one because Ryuji burst out laughing.  
  
“No, oh my god. He’s a cat! Not human, cat,” Ryuji choked out between cackles. Okay, so it wasn’t human, that was a relief. Akira had no idea what a ‘cat’ was, but he didn’t spend much time dwelling on it, instead choosing to focus on Ryuji. He had a full body laugh, loud and intense, and with basically his entire body curled around the boy’s torso Akira could feel it echoing through his bones. He decided he quite liked the way Ryuji laughed, even if it did almost threaten to dislodge him with how much shaking it caused. Distantly, he noted that he was purring again, and he thought that fit. He didn’t know whether or not humans could purr, but the full bodied vibrating that came with Ryuji’s laughing felt similar enough that of course Akira responded.  
  
“Gay,” Baba muttered. Akira didn’t think that was directed at him, and even if he did he had no idea what that meant. Ryuji managed to stop laughing long enough to address her.  
  
“Yeah okay I don’t think he’s about to eat your cat you can go ahead,” he said. Akira was a little disappointed that he’d stopped laughing, but the look Ryuji gave him when he turned back was enough to make up for it. Brown eyes seemed almost shiny in the light, and contained… something within them that made Akira’s stomach feel like waves. His hopeful side said it was affection, but he quashed that thought quickly. Of course it wasn’t, that would be ridiculous. He really needed to quit getting his hopes up, all that ever did was cause him to make a fool out of himself. Whatever that look was though, he liked it. Really, really liked it. Liked enough that he heard a soft trill escape alongside the purring. Dammit.  
  
Luckily he was spared from having to berate himself much further over that by Baba moving towards him, holding out Morgana, stopping only once the two were face to face.  
  
“Ocean cat, meet land cat!” She said, and Akira was briefly confused. Ocean cat? Was that him? Was he a cat? He didn’t look anything like Morgana, did he? Sure, he’d never exactly been able to look at himself, but he still had a general idea of his own appearance, and he was pretty sure he did not resemble Morgana. This whole situation made no sense.  
  
Curiously, he leaned forward, still not willing to fully disentangle himself from Ryuji, (he was going to enjoy this as long as he could before Ryuji finally got tired of him and pushed him off), and sniffed at Morgana. The ‘cat’ didn’t smell like anything he could identify, but that wasn’t much of a surprise.  
  
Morgana seemed to be curious about him as well, leaning out of Baba’s arms to sniff him right back. There were odd, long hairs on by his nose that tickled Akira’s face, and after a moment Morgana’s muzzle opened, revealing sharp little teeth and a small pink tongue that dragged itself over Akira’s cheek.  
  
Was that how a ‘cat’ said hello? Not really knowing what else to do, Akira settled on the old reliable and mimicked, licking Morgana right back. The sensation of fur in his mouth proved wholly unpleasant, and he made a face just as both Ryuji and Baba burst out laughing.  
  
“H-holy shit, did he just lick the cat?” Ryuji choked out. The question wasn’t addressed to him, but Akira was confused nonetheless. Was he… not supposed to do that?__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Insert obligatory feedback-whoring here]
> 
> Also I would just like to take this time to point out that I did spend about 20 minutes researching marine life native to Japanese waters just so I could make that one throwaway joke/comment about mer getting high. I could've just gone with 'seaweed', but I never make anything simple, so instead I went out of my way to see if there existed any marine life near Japan with psychotropic effects. Turns out there's a type of sponge that basically acts as a sedative when eaten. You're welcome. My search history is a nightmare because of this fic, the government probably thinks I'm some kind of terrible fish pervert/drug addict, because I did also look up shit about marine genitalia just to make a throwaway dick joke that wasn't even super obvious in the first place. This is my life now.


	9. Clam Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm gonna preface this by saying a lot of this just came out of the headcanon that Ryuji has a tongue piercing, and then the thought "hey what would a mer think of a tongue piercing?", and then four straight days (or I guess nights) of crippling insomnia.

Futaba had made it up the stairs without Motherfucker escaping, and now it was Ryuji’s turn to act.  
  
“Akira?” he said, and Akira switched his gaze from the demon in Futaba’s arms to him, big grey doe eyes blinking at him. Fuuuuuuck he was pretty. You would think having the guy literally in his lap for the last several minutes would negate some of the shock value that came with something as simple as being looked at, but if anything it only made it worse. He didn’t have time for that now though; he needed to focus. Fooooccuuuuuusssss. “That’s Morgana. Akira; Morgana. Morgana; Akira,” he continued, gesturing from the Satan spawn to Akira and back again. He supposed it wasn’t really necessary to do that, given the fact that Morgana was, you know, a cat, but his brain was kind of on autopilot right now. “Not food,” he added a second later. Best to be sure that got across.  
  
Ryuji figured he must’ve said something wrong though, because Akira looked absolutely dumbstruck, horrified even, gawking at Morgana the way one might look at a horse that suddenly started singing opera, or anything else bewildering that challenged your view of reality. Problem was though; it was just a cat, so something clearly had to have gotten lost in translation here. Ryuji wasn’t sure what exactly it was, since he’d kept it pretty damn simplistic, but somehow something must’ve gone terribly awry.  
  
“Hu-man?” Akira asked him, apprehension evident. What the fuck? Where on earth did he get that idea from? Ryuji couldn’t prevent himself from bursting out in laughter. He wasn’t laughing at Akira, really he wasn’t, he knew that’d be a shitty thing to do but come on, this was just objectively funny.  
  
“No, oh my god. He’s a cat! Not human, cat,” he managed to get out. Luckily, Akira didn’t seem at all offended by his laughter, far from it. In fact, he’d started purring again, which seemed a bit odd, but hey, what did Ryuji know? He sure as hell wasn't complaining.  
  
“Gay,” Futaba muttered, and if Ryuji hadn’t been preoccupied with trying to stabilize his breathing, (the combination of laughing your ass off and having a guy literally coiled around your torso could create come complications in that area), he would have glared at her. If Akira had heard her, then he hadn’t been at all phased, likely not understanding what the hell it was she was saying in the first place, which was probably good. Ryuji really didn’t feel like trying to explain that one.  
  
“Yeah okay I don’t think he’s about to eat your cat you can go ahead,” Ryuji said, finally having managed to collect himself enough for words. He turned back to face Akira, who’d evidently just been looking at him the whole time, and without entirely meaning to locked eyes with the other. Akira’s eyes still had that odd, hazy look to them that he’d noticed earlier, a look which seemed to intensify upon meeting Ryuji’s gaze. He looked… blissful, there really was no other way to describe it, and Ryuji decided he quite liked that look on Akira’s face. He was somehow even prettier when he was happy. Akira let out a soft trill, the noise somehow deeply satisfying to Ryuji, but before he could really try delving into why exactly that was Futaba interrupted, holding out her devil cat and marching forwards until Motherfucker and Akira were practically face to face.  
  
“Ocean cat, meet land cat,” she cackled, and Ryuji couldn’t stop the snort of laughter that escaped him at that.  
  
Akira looked confused again, though considerably less so than a few seconds ago, and curiosity was also featured heavily on his face. He leaned forward, though didn’t make any effort to actually disentangle himself from Ryuji, a fact that he was admittedly rather pleased with. So he liked the guy’s inexplicable cuddling and didn’t want to end it, so what? It wasn’t every day he had an almost infuriatingly gorgeous person all over him, hell, it wasn’t any day that that happened. Add that with the fact that Akira was a mer on top of him just being attractive and you got a pretty once in a lifetime situation going on here. He wasn’t sure what exactly had possessed Akira to suddenly like him so much; for all he knew it could be a side effect of whatever the hell those scientists had apparently shot him up with to get him here. Maybe it was like that thing with baby ducks where they just randomly decide they love you. Maybe whatever injury had landed Akira in here had left him somewhat brain dead. Who knew? Not Ryuji. But whatever it was, Ryuji planned on capitalizing on it for as long as possible, because he was pretty damn sure he’d never get another opportunity like this again.  
  
Akira sniffed curiously at the demon spawn in Futaba’s arms, and the demon spawn sniffed right back. Part of Ryuji was somewhat annoyed with the fact that yeah, apparently he was the only recipient of Motherfucker’s unholy fury, but the other part of him was happy that the two seemed to at least sort of get along (sure, it had only been about two seconds, but it had taken about that same amount of time for Motherfucker to pass judgement on Ryuji when they’d first met, so whatever). That second part of him was greatly influenced by the way Akira’s nose scrunched up a little at the feeling of Motherfucker’s whiskers on his face. Cute.  
  
Motherfucker’s mouth opened, flashing the teeth that Ryuji had gotten himself oh so well acquainted with as a small pink tongue dragged along Akira’s cheek. Ryuji was just managing to form the thought, ‘oh come on, that’s so not fair’, before Akira completely derailed his train of thought by licking the cat. Licking. The fucking. Cat.  
  
The mer’s face recoiled in what looked like distaste, which, yeah, made perfect sense considering he’d just _licked a fucking cat dude what the fuck??? _Externally, Ryuji was laughing, but internally he was absolutely horrified.__  
  
“H-holy shit, did he just lick the cat?” He asked. Obviously he had, but Ryuji’s poor brain was having some trouble with processing that one. _Why?? ___  
  
Akira looked confused again, head cocked to the side like a puppy dog and grey eyes wide as they stared at Ryuji, clearly asking for an explanation. Ryuji wasn’t sure what exactly there was to explain; if anything, Akira should be the one explaining why the hell he just thought it was a good idea to put his tongue on a cat’s face.  
  
“You’re damn right he did. Ann, _please _tell me you got that on tape,” Futaba said. Ann flashed her a thumbs up from down below, looking just as amused at the strange turn of events as Futaba.__  
  
“Not he-llo?” Akira suddenly asked, ear fins drooping slightly. Poor dude seemed really lost. Ryuji knew the feeling well. Now that he thought about it, he guessed it sort of made sense: they’d introduced him to the cat; the cat had licked him; he’d probably just assumed that the licking was a part of the introduction. When put that way it seemed less buckwild, but still. Cat hair. In the mouth. On purpose. Absolutely untenable.  
  
“No Akira, not hello,” Ryuji confirmed. He felt it was important to clear that misconception up right quick on the off chance that Akira got introduced to any other people any time soon. He had a feeling that trying to lick the person he was being introduced to might not do Akira many favors in the “being liked” department.  
  
“I bet you wish he’d thought that was hello when you first started talking to him,” Futaba said, still dangling the cat at an arm’s length away. Deciding he couldn’t think up a proper response to that, (what the fuck do you even say to that?), Ryuji settled for merely sticking his tongue out at her. Was it childish and stupid? Absolutely. Did that match the tone of the interaction? Also absolutely.  
  
Akira, who had been looking kind of sheepish, suddenly snapped to attention, ear fins flaring out and eyes wide and startled. Ryuji put his tongue back in his mouth, belatedly realizing that it was perhaps a little counterintuitive to stick his tongue out at someone right after trying to tell Akira that that wasn’t something he was supposed to do, but hey, it wasn’t exactly like he’d put a whole lot of thought into it.  
  
That being said though, such a relatively minor contradiction didn’t seem to match up to the expression on Akira’s face. He looked stunned, much like a less horrified version of what he’d been a minute ago when first encountering Morgana. He was staring at Ryuji as if he’d suddenly grown horns or something, and indeed Ryuji found himself reaching up to touch his face with the hand that wasn’t currently messing with Akira’s hair. What? What was it? Did he have, like, sauce on his face or something? No, that wouldn’t make sense, why would Akira have only just now noticed? Had he actually grown horns? Unlikely, but then again, so was the rest of this shit.  
  
He was just about to ask somebody for a mirror when Akira leaned in, finned hands coming up to Ryuji’s face. Futaba’s choked “holy shit” sounded as though it were coming from miles away, and Ryuji suddenly felt a bit dizzy. All he could see was grey, all he could feel was the oddly smooth texture of the cold hands resting on his cheeks and the pounding of his heart.  
  
And then Akira stuck his hands in Ryuji’s mouth.  
  
For not the first time, Ryuji had the distinct thought of “what in the everloving fuck is he thinking?”, except this time the thought was made slightly more urgent by the fact that there were _hands in his mouth. _He heard Morgana meow angrily, indicating that Futaba may have squeezed him during her descent into the wheezing laughter that now filled the room. Akira pried his mouth open, clearly looking for something, and Ryuji had no idea how to feel about this.__  
  
“What in gods name is he doing?” Mr. Sakura asked, and Ryuji sure hoped that was supposed to be a rhetorical question because how in the fuck should he know?  
  
Akira looked fascinated with something, and moved one of his hands to poke at Ryuji’s tongue.  
  
“Prrl?” He asked, and Ryuji found himself confused by that question in two ways. One; assuming he meant to say pearl, what did that have to do with anything?, and two: how the shit did he expect Ryuji to respond while his hands were in his mouth?  
  
“Oot a ak ah oo akin aoot?” Ryuji tried, sure enough coming across as just gibberish. Seeming to realize his mistake, Akira promptly, and a bit sheepishly, removed his hands. Still, that hint of amazement remained on his face as he gestured to Ryuji’s mouth.  
  
“Prrl!” He said again, and Ryuji took a moment to try and process that. Pearl? That was what he was saying, right? Had to be, but he couldn’t figure out what that could mean. All he knew was that Akira had suddenly decided to play dentist and poke around at his tongue piercing- oh, that was it wasn’t it?  
  
Ryuji did have to admit that part of his logic when he got the piercing had been that chicks (and dudes) really dug on the whole “punk” thing. He’d be lying if he said that trying to appeal to potential partners hadn’t been a factor in any of his piercings, but he certainly hadn’t thought that getting his tongue pierced would lead to having an attractive guy literally shove his hands into his mouth to check out the small silver ball that lay there. Life is funny like that, isn’t it.  
  
“No, not a pearl,” Ryuji finally said, barely restraining the incredulous laughter that threatened to break through. This whole situation was fucking unbelievable, and had been from the start, but this really was just the icing on the cake.  
  
“Not prrl?” Akira asked, cocking his head to the side.  
  
“No,”  
  
“What iss it?” Akira inquired. Ryuji thought for a second.  
  
“Jewelry,” he responded. Akira seemed confused.  
  
“Jul-rry?” He repeated.  
  
“Yeah,” Ryuji confirmed. He knew that word probably meant nothing to Akira, but he wasn’t sure how exactly to explain it, and it wasn’t like that was about to be the most important word he’d ever learn or anything. Akira seemed to accept the explanation, nodding slightly.  
  
“Prrty,” he said, and he once again smiled at Ryuji, bringing a bit of a flush to his cheeks. Speaking of pretty; goddamn.  
  
“Thanks,” he said, distantly aware of Ann in the background, still filming. He wasn’t sure what to do with the knowledge of the fact that footage now existed of him playing impromptu dentist with a mer.  
  
\--------------------------------------  
  
“You’re damn right he did. Ann, _please _tell me you got that on tape,” Akira heard Baba shout. He knew Ann was the blonde girl, and indeed he did see her respond to whatever Baba had just said, sticking up one of her fingers in what he assumed to be an affirmative gesture. In her other hand was one of those weird plastic boxes he’d seen the humans messing around with, aimed up at the three of them (four, if you counted the ‘cat’), a tiny red light glowing on its surface. He still hadn’t figured out what those things were or what they did, but it wasn’t exactly at the top of his priorities.__  
  
“Not he-llo?” He asked, suddenly feeling kind of stupid. Sure, randomly licking something was a dumb idea, but the thing had licked him first, and what was he supposed to think? It wasn’t as if he had the first clue as to what was going on in general here, he was doing his best to just roll with it and frankly thought he ought to be commended at how well he’d been pulling that off so far.  
  
“No Akira, not hello,” Ryuji confirmed. He was still quite fond of the way Ryuji said his name, which did help to offset the feeling of embarrassment that came with what else he’d actually said. Oops. The question now though was why the ‘cat’ had licked him. If it wasn’t a greeting, what was it? Did the ‘cat’ intend to eat him? Akira eyed it warily. It didn’t _look _very threatening. Sure, it had sharp teeth, but Akira’s teeth were even sharper and much larger. Did this thing have some kind of hidden weapon that would allow it to actually harm him?__  
  
He was so focused on re-evaluating the creature that he entirely missed what Baba said to Ryuji. What he didn’t miss, however, was Ryuji sticking his tongue out at Baba, and, more specifically, the flash of something shiny actually _on his tongue _. Akira’s attention shifted away from the ‘cat’ and onto Ryuji. What in the Spirits’ name was that?__  
  
Akira had always had a bit of a proclivity towards collecting; he couldn’t really help it. Mer were generally a rather nomadic species, something that played to their favor in that it was much harder for humans to catch what didn’t stay in one place, but Akira himself was not. The open waters were dangerous, and without the protection of a pod he didn’t think it a good idea to try and explore them. Instead, he'd established a little den for himself in an area ripe with both marine life and rocks and caves that made for good places to hide, just in case. Sure, he did still travel around from time to time, but the difference was that he always returned to the same place, instead of just moving on.  
  
This meant that he was sometimes victim to occasional bouts of boredom, with neither a pod nor a new environment to keep him entertained. In response, he’d decided to try entertaining himself by searching for interesting objects to decorate his den with whenever he wasn’t looking for food. This usually consisted of abandoned shells or cool looking rocks, but he’d also managed to find a few really intriguing things as well, usually stuff that humans had dumped into the water once they decided they were through with it. Akira was especially fond of anything shiny, and pearls in particular held his interest. After the first time he’d broken open an oyster to eat and found one inside, he’d taken to busting open every oyster he came across, hoping to find more.  
  
The thing on Ryuji’s tongue had almost looked like a pearl. It was small, round, and definitely shiny, which would point to it being a pearl. The only thing he couldn’t figure out was why Ryuji would have a pearl in his mouth. He certainly didn’t _look _like an oyster, at least, not one Akira had ever seen. This required further investigation.__  
  
Without thinking, Akira lurched forwards and placed his hands on Ryuji’s face, staring at him. Ryuji looked startled, but Akira was operating on a fairly one-track mind at the moment. As gently as he could, Akira pried open Ryuji’s mouth and stuck his hand in, again, not really stopping to think about the potential consequences of his actions. All logical thought, as well as the strange noises coming from both the ‘cat’ and Baba near him, were drowned out by the simple thought of “shiny!!!” that currently ran his brain.  
  
He heard Mistersakra say something, the tone neither friendly nor unfriendly, and without any indication of a threat, which meant that it too was ignored. Akira had found was he was looking for, and he stared at it, fascinated, even moving one hand to lightly poke at it. Upon further investigation, it was unlike any pearl he’d ever seen, lacking the white coloration or multicolored sheen of the little jewel. If anything, it was actually closer in color to his own scales. Despite that obvious difference however, a pearl was still looking like his best bet, as it was a small, round, shiny thing found in the mouth of another creature. Really, that definition was so specific it didn’t exactly leave a whole lot of room for it to be anything else. Still, he was curious.  
  
“Prrl?” he asked, fairly proud of himself for how close he was on that particular word. Sure, it one of the easier ones to pronounce, but a victory was a victory.  
  
“Oot a ak ah oo akin aoot?” Ryuji grunted, and Akira flushed. Oh, right. Probably not a great idea to try asking him a question while his hands were still in the guy’s mouth. He could see where that might make answering a little difficult. Quickly, sheepishly, he removed his hands. He would have been a whole lot more embarrassed were it not for the fact that he was still pretty excited. What could he say? He loved shiny things, and his new favorite human, (well, okay, it wasn’t exactly like he’d had a favorite human before to compare with but whatever), just so happened to have a shiny thing in his mouth, which, yeah, was a little weird, but he wasn’t about to overthink it. Apparent clam hybrid or not, Ryuji was full of pleasant surprises.  
  
“Prrl!” He repeated, and he caught himself actually trilling on the ‘r’ sound this time. He distantly hoped that none of the humans would be able to distinguish that from his usual pronunciation. Really, he ought to stop trilling at this human like a lovesick pup every five seconds, it wasn’t helping with the whole ‘trying not to seem like a pathetically desperate idiot’ thing.  
  
Ryuji just stared at him blankly for a moment. Did he not pronounce it right? He knew humans had knowledge of pearls, and in fact seemed to be just as fond of them as he was. He’d seen humans on the docks selling chains of them, so it wasn’t like they were a completely foreign element. Had he perhaps mistaken the word? The more he thought about it the more likely it seemed. After all, it wasn’t like he’d ever operated with an actual translation or anything, he’d just been observing. It was entirely possible he’d heard them repeating certain words for certain things and mixed up what meant what. If that was the case though, then what had he just said. Oh Spirits what if it was something sexual? That was pretty unlikely given the scenarios in which he’d heard the word used but humans were unpredictable so who knew?  
  
“No, not a pearl,” Ryuji finally said, snapping Akira out of his increasingly anxious line of thought. Ryuji looked like he was trying not to laugh, which inspired a vague sense of disappointment. He liked it when Ryuji laughed. More pressingly though, why was he trying not to laugh? What was so funny? Was it something directly related to what Akira had said or not? He had to confirm.  
  
“Not prrl?” He asked. Ryuji didn’t seem to react to the word at all, which helped to dispel Akira’s concerns on that front. Okay, so it probably wasn’t that he was saying something horribly wrong, that was a relief.  
  
“No,” Ryuji confirmed. Alright, so there was that question answered. With that answer though came another question: if it wasn’t a pearl, then what was it?  
  
“What iss it?” He inquired, conscious of the way he once again hissed on the ‘s’ sound. It was a good thing that hissing didn’t seem to be a human behavior, because making a noise commonly known to be a threat every time a common sound came up would be a real hindrance in communication. If he’d been trying to talk to other mer and hissed at them, he probably would’ve been attacked.  
  
“Jewelry,” Ryuji responded after a moment. Akira cocked his head. Jewelry? He’d never heard that word before.  
  
“Jul-rry?” He tried, feeling the word out. He was grateful for the fact that it wasn’t another one of those ridiculous words. He wasn’t sure how many more ‘Futaba’-like words he could take before just getting angry and writing off the entire language as stupid and impossible.  
  
“Yeah,” Ryuji confirmed. Akira nodded slightly. Alright, so it wasn’t a pearl, it was ‘julry’, he could deal with that.  
  
“Prrty,” he said, smiling at Ryuji. As far as he knew, that was the word humans used to describe things that were visually appealing, so he figured it applied in this case. The ‘julry’ was indeed nice to look at, and so was Ryuji, but he wasn’t going to outright say that, so this was his chance to just say it as a general statement and hopefully not get called on the specifics of what he was referring to.  
  
“Thanks,” Ryuji said, his cheeks somewhat pink. Claspers, did he actually manage to catch the double meaning there? Oh well. He had no way to prove it, so there was no way he could actually manage to hold that against Akira. Hopefully.  
  
\--------------------------  
  
“Well, I think that went even better than I was hoping. I’ll admit, the focus did shift off of Morgana pretty fast but the results were still better than I could have asked for, so I’ll count this one as a victory,” Futaba chimed in. Ryuji made a face at her. Funny, he’d almost completely forgotten fluffy satan was there in the first place, what with the whole ‘hot fish-boy’s hands in his mouth because apparently he thinks you’re a clam or something’ situation. That had been a bit distracting.  
  
“Yeah, quick question: how is it that we’ve managed to goof off with him to the point where he’s met and licked a cat, and yet aside from feeding him have yet to do anything productive?” Ann piped up.  
  
“I’d say this has been pretty productive, what are you talking about?” Futaba countered.  
  
“I believe she’s talking about the oddness in the fact that Akira has met and interacted with a cat before meeting or interacting with a medical professional, and one of those two things is actually necessary,” Mr. Sakura responded.  
  
“Wait, weren’t those two assholes we spotted in here supposed to be ‘medical professionals?’” Futaba asked.  
  
“Technically, it was one asshole and one complete pushover, and yes, they were, but they didn’t exactly manage to get a whole lot done,” Mr. Sakura sighed. What an endearing way to refer to one’s coworkers.  
  
“Oh yeah, what exactly happened with that by the way? Because by the time we got here Akira was already in the corner screaming or something and the two science dudes were already kinda roughed up. What went down?” Futaba asked.  
  
“Well, according to Takenaka, the ‘nasty little savage’ just ‘went ballistic’ and attacked the two of them, but Takenaka is full of shit. Hayashi’s version was probably more accurate; he says Akira responded defensively to being touched and then being cornered, but that still doesn’t explain a whole lot,” Mr. Sakura said. Ryuji frowned.  
  
“Alright well A: fuck that first guy, and B: that doesn’t make any sense! Akira doesn’t exactly seem to have much of a problem with physical contact,” Ryuji said, gesturing towards the mer who remained very much all over him.  
  
“Well yeah but like, did you touch him or did he touch you- Futaba don’t you dare,” Ann started, interrupting herself at the sight of Futaba opening her mouth, “because that makes a pretty big difference. If he initiates, that means he’s like, comfortable, like, it’s his decision and all. My guess is that if you’d like, jumped in there and tried to touch him he would’ve been a lot less cuddly,”  
  
“Ah, yeah, good point,” Ryuji conceded.  
  
“Regardless, he does still need to have somebody check up on him,” Mr. Sakura said. “Obviously Takenaka and Hayashi are off the table, as I get the feeling that they wouldn’t be welcome back, so that doesn’t leave us with a whole lot of options. I’d figure our best bet would be Takemi, so I’m going to call her down and we’ll go from there. Tiger Shark Kid, it’s going to be your job to try and keep him from freaking out this time,”  
  
“Wait, what?” Ryuji asked, not even bothering to address the whole ‘Tiger Shark Kid’ thing.  
  
“Well, like it or not, he needs to be examined. We’ll try to keep it as relatively hands-off as possible, but there are some things that are going to require contact to check. We need to make sure that his injuries haven’t gotten worse or that we didn’t miss anything when we first bought him in, and to do that we are going to have to get closer to him than he may prefer. Now, he seems to really like you for some reason, so that means you’re our best shot at keeping calm enough to actually get this over with. Obviously, if he gets too agitated and starts behaving aggressively we will have to sedate him, but there are a number of reasons why we’d like to avoid doing that if possible,” Mr. Sakura explained.  
  
Ryuji grimaced. Yeah, of course it was important, but he knew how badly the doctor could suck. Add that to the fact that Akira probably still had no idea what was going on and that just made it even worse. Still, he didn’t want the poor guy to get knocked out again.  
  
He looked down at Akira, who was still coiled around him. Akira had apparently decided not to give the conversation much heed, instead having wrapped his arms back around Ryuji’s torso and resting his head back on his shoulder. While Ryuji couldn’t entirely see it, he had the distinct sense that Akira was eyeballing the black and white form of Motherfucker from over Ryuji’s shoulder, almost like he was sizing the little bastard up, which was adorable. _Akira _was adorable.__  
  
“Alright, let’s fuckin do this,” Ryuji said, turning back to Mr. Sakura. Thankfully, the man didn’t seem to mind language outside of his daughter, which was a relief because Ryuji had never possessed the best filter.  
  
“Well first I’ve got to actually call her down here,” Mr. Sakura responded blandly.  
  
“Oh, right,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one was somewhat shorter than usual, I haven't slept properly in days. Hopefully it's at least somewhat comprehensible. Do let me know. 
> 
> Once again I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has supported this story, especially those of you who have expressed that support via commentary; y'all are the sole reason this is still going. Seriously, this is 116 pages. I have never written anywhere close to 116 pages of anything before, but then again, I've never had the motivation to do so like I have now.
> 
> (Just in case anyone was wondering, what Ryuji was trying to say was "what the fuck are you talking about?". I tried saying it without closing my mouth and what is written is roughly what that sounded like.)


	10. Punk Rock-ter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Punk Rock Doctor. Punk Rock-ter. It's past midnight alright don't judge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this is kinda... shite, and also late, there's just been... a lot going on recently. I'll elaborate in the end notes but until then, yeah. Enjoy, (or at least try to, I don't exactly make it easy).

The humans had gone back to talking amongst themselves again. Akira wasn’t terribly bothered by it; of course they’d talk to each other, it’d be weird if they didn’t, but was he was somewhat bothered by was hearing his name in the conversation and not being able to understand what was being said about him. It wasn’t that big of a problem; he just wished he knew what they were saying. Was it bad? Good? Neither? He didn’t know, and that was what annoyed him.  
  
He figured that if they did indeed think badly of him, he’d know, since they’d probably do something to express it, but the uncertainty of it irked him. In an effort to avoid stressing out over that, he instead chose to focus on an uncertainty that he actually could get a better idea of; the ‘cat’.  
  
‘Morgana’, as it had been called, (it? He? She? They? He had no idea), didn’t seem terribly interested in him, which came as a bit of a relief. He still had no clue why that thing had decided to lick him, and he didn’t like most of the explanations his brain supplied for that. He rested his head on Ryuji’s shoulder, but leaned in far enough that he could still peek back behind Ryuji’s neck to keep and eye on ‘Morgana’, who at the moment was curled up in Baba’s lap from where she now sat on the platform.  
  
Probably the thing that most drew Akira’s attention was the fact that the ‘cat’ had a tail, which didn’t exactly make sense for a number of reasons. First off, it had four other limbs in addition to the tail, which would mean that it’s total limb count was up to five. Akira had seen creatures with five limbs before, but those were sea stars, and they possessed neither the dexterity, nor the speed, nor the apparent intelligence of the ‘cat’. Also they were way smaller. And all of their limbs were the same ‘type’ of limb, rather than the odd situation of the ‘cat’, which appeared to have a total of three different ‘types’ of limb, if you counted the tail. Second, the tail itself clearly wasn’t used in mobility, which begged the question of what exactly it was used for. So far, the answer seemed to be; nothing. Third, if, building off of the last one, the tail did indeed have no real function, then why was it moving? Why would a creature have control over a seemingly vestigial limb?  
  
Funnily enough, the way it moved its tail almost reminded Akira of himself, which just bought him right back to his earlier concern; was he actually also a ‘cat’? When Baba had introduced them, she had used the phrase ‘ocean cat, meet land cat’. He knew that ‘ocean’ was the human word for the sea, and ‘land’ was their word for the world above it where they lived, so it could be inferred that perhaps ‘ocean cat’ was meant to refer to him, and ‘land cat’ to Morgana, implying that the two were the same kind of being, just from different habitats.  
  
He squinted at Morgana. No matter how he looked at it, it didn’t look anything like him; it was much too small, with a complete lack of scales and hair covering the entirety of its body. True, it did have sharp teeth, and true, it did possess a tail that moved in a manner somewhat similar to his own, and true, now that he thought about it, his own black hair and pale skin did match up to the black and white coloration of the creature’s fur…  
  
Akira’s head was starting to hurt. Mistersakra had been talking for a while, seemingly to Ryuji, who he felt look down at him. He hadn’t heard his name crop up for quite some time now, so he’d figured their conversation wasn’t relevant to him at all and decided not to waste energy trying to translate their high speed chattering. Ryuji looking at him though made him wonder if maybe he was actually supposed to have been paying attention. He really, really hoped that wasn’t the case.  
  
Luckily, no demands were made of him and Ryuji turned back to talk to Mistersakra. The two exchanged a few more words before Mistersakra left the room, Baba getting up to follow him out, taking ‘Morgana’ away with her. Akira felt a faint sense of relief at that, though he wasn’t entirely sure why. It was just him and Ryuji now. Well, him, Ryuji, and the three other humans in the room, but they were all the way down there and didn’t seem like they’d be coming up any time soon.  
  
He had to admit he was a little confused. Why had Mistersakra left? Sure, it hadn’t made much sense for him to be there alongside the young pod, but he’d been there all the same so why would he leave now? And why was he slightly nervous all of a sudden? A vague, distant sense of apprehension had struck Akira a few seconds ago and it refused to go away, despite the fact that it had no obvious cause. Obviously, his scenario was plenty anxiety-inducing, but everything had actually been going pretty great for a while now, and nothing had happened to change that, so why was he suddenly getting antsy?  
  
He began slightly tapping his tailfin against the ground where it rested right next to Ryuji’s leg, hoping to expel some of the sudden, inexplicable nervous energy. Ryuji was looking at him, and for a moment he worried that perhaps his tapping was becoming a nuisance, but the human boy looked not so much annoyed as he did worried, which didn’t exactly help. Why was he nervous? What had been said that had managed to unnerve him? Akira really didn’t like not knowing at the best of times, but now the uncertainty was starting to drive him a little nuts.  
  
The doors swished open again and Ryuji tensed, which of course made Akira tense as well. He’d seen this guy start yelling at two adults and actually somehow scare them off, if something was making him nervous it was definitely bed news. Mistersakra entered the room again, followed by… oh Great Spirits, an adult female. The two were talking to each other, both staring at Akira, and he didn’t like it. The female had short, choppy dark hair and strange black smudging around the eyes. On her feet were two black objects with a sharp point on the far end that she balanced on, and Akira found himself vividly reminded of his last encounter with an adult human female.  
  
He coiled in tighter around Ryuji, muscles tense and ready to move if he had to. Granted, he definitely wouldn’t be able to get far, but he didn’t have any other options here. Honestly, he didn’t have _any _options here in the first place. So far she was just standing by the door to the room, talking with Mistersakra, which was good. Mistersakra had been perfectly fine, he reminded himself, minus the yelling in the beginning, he hadn’t been a problem at all, so it wasn’t like every adult was going to be as aggressive as those first two had been. If she was just here to talk, he could deal with that. So far she’d actually been pretty quiet, certainly no shouting, and she had just been standing over there so really, he was probably just overreacting. There was no need to be so wound up, it wasn’t like she’d rushed him or anything, she was just-- she moved.__  
  
Right as Akira was just in the middle of trying to talk himself down the unknown adult started walking towards him and okay, nope, now all bets were off. He once again went rigid, fins flaring out in a warning that he knew was stupid but that was the only thing he could think of. There was nowhere for him to hide and even if there was she’d already seen him so it would be pointless, fleeing was clearly not an option since there was nowhere for him to go, so that left fighting as his only choice. Sure, his last attempt to square off against one of these things had gone terribly, but he was just a pup then, so maybe this time he might actually stand a chance. Probably not, but maybe. He really didn’t want for it to come to that though. Not just because he knew he’d get his ass kicked, but also because of Ryuji; not only would the guy wind up caught in the crossfire, but he’d probably hate Akira for attacking one of his kind, and even more for being too weak to actually win.  
  
As the adult reached the bottom of the steps that lead up to the platform Akira panicked. Acting completely on dumb, dumb instinct he flared his ear fins out as large as he could, drawn himself back, slammed one clawed hand down on the surface of the platform and _hissed _, baring every single one of his razor sharp teeth in a snarl that he hoped communicated his message of ‘kindly get the fuck away from me now’. He was obviously outnumbered and in a no-win situation, and the adult clearly knew that, so the gesture was completely pointless, but hey, no one ever accused instinct of being the most logical.__  
  
Much to his surprise, she stopped. She actually stopped moving and just stared at him, her face devoid of aggression but also devoid of anything else that could have given him any idea as to what she was thinking. Ryuji said something, but it floated right over Akira’s head as he was too focused on staring down the adult, as if the slightest break in eye contact would prompt her to lunge for him and strike him with the weapons on the ends of her legs (seriously, did all adult females possess those?)  
  
Slowly, without faltering in her gaze, the adult stepped back, away from the stairs. Akira blinked, both because his eyes had been getting dry, (honestly, how did humans live with all of this _air _constantly blowing straight into their eyeballs?), and because he was surprised. She was actually backing down? What in the Spirits’ names was going on here?__  
  
Confused as he was, he found himself relaxing, fins slowly folding in and muscles releasing tension as he leaned back into Ryuji. He didn’t know what was happening, but he’d take it. That kind of seemed to be a recurring theme for the day, huh? He continued to stare at her, and from her expression alone she certainly didn’t seem to be intimidated, but she didn’t look like she was about to fight him either. When she spoke her voice was level, almost bored.  
  
“Well tiger shark, do you have any ideas?” She said. She seemed to be addressing Ryuji, and while Akira understood the tone to indicate a question, he didn’t understand the words well enough to know what was actually being asked. The thing was though, why was she talking to Ryuji? He had said something earlier, now that he thought about it, and it certainly hadn’t seemed to have been directed at Akira. Were the two familiar with each other? That gave him pause. Ryuji didn’t seem to be at all aggressive or defensive. Sure, he had seemed a bit nervous earlier, but other than that his behavior had given no indication that this woman was actually any sort of threat. If Ryuji trusted her, wasn’t that actually a good sign?  
  
“Hey, Akira?” Ryuji said. Akira warily broke eye contact with the woman to look at him. He didn’t see her make any moves in his peripheral vision, further supporting the ‘maybe she’s actually fine and you’re just paranoid’ theory. “So, this is gonna sound pretty weird but I’m gonna need you to trust me on this, uh; she’s cool, she’s just here to help, and I know it sucks but you’re actually gonna have to let her up here to check on you cause you’re like, hurt, and she needs to make sure you’re doing okay and all that,” Ryuji continued. Akira blinked. He had understood maybe three words in that entire speech, and one of them was his own name.  
  
“What?” He asked. The woman’s eyebrows raised when he spoke, but other than that she remained eerily impassive.  
  
“Oh shit, uh…” Ryuji muttered to himself. He seemed to be thinking for a moment before he spoke again. “Okay, uh, you are hurt,” he said. Akira’s brow furrowed. ‘Hurt’? He knew he’d heard that word before, but what did it mean again?  
  
“Hu-rrrt?” He asked. Ryuji tapped his fingers against the floor of the platform, clearly thinking again.  
  
“Uhhh… ouch?” He said, before miming hitting his hand against the floor and saying “ow!”. Akira flinched a bit at the movement. Why did he do that? Clearly he wasn’t actually injured, just pretending to be, but why? Wait, was that him trying to explain the word? Ryuji had said that Akira was ‘hurt’... if ‘hurt’ meant ‘injured’, then that would make plenty of sense.  
  
“Hu-rrt is ow?” Akira asked, before copying Ryuji’s movement and pretending to hit his hand, then saying, “hu-rrt?” He wanted to be sure.  
  
“Yes! Great job! Hurt is ow, and you are hurt. Do you understand that?” Ryuji asked. Akira quashed the satisfaction he felt at the praise to instead focus on what had come after. So he was definitely injured, alright, that would explain a lot. He suspected it was his gills.  
  
“I am hu-rrt, yesss,” he confirmed.  
  
“Alright, yeah, so far so good. So uh, that’s Doctor Takemi. Doctor Takemi; Akira. Akira; Doctor Takemi,” Ryuji introduced, once again doing that little hand gesture from Akira to the stranger and back again. Okay, so these two did at least sort of know each other? Well that was a good sign. Seriously though, why did all of the adults seem to have such long names? Sure, this one had sounds that were much easier to pronounce than “Mistersakra”, but still, it was very long.  
  
“He-llo,” Akira said, deciding that he wasn’t going to waste time trying to stumble his way through the entirety of the adult’s name. She wasn’t one of Ryuju’s podmates, so it didn’t really matter that much anyway.  
  
“Hello Akira,” she responded, nodding her head slightly in his direction.  
  
“Uh-huh, and uh, Doctor Takemi is here to help. You. Help you,” Ryuji said. Akira’s brow furrowed once again. He was pretty sure he knew what the word ‘help’ meant, but it didn’t exactly make sense in this context. He still hadn’t exactly managed to figure out what the humans wanted him for yet, but the fact remained that they were the ones who had injured and subsequently captured him. Why would they turn around and help him? It was completely absurd!  
  
“Why?” Akira asked, bluntly. It was honestly kind of a general question.  
  
“What do you mean, ‘why’? You’re hurt!” Ryuji responded, looking just as confused by Akira’s question as Akira was by his answer. Humans helping simply because they could? But humans were the ones who caused the injury in the first place! He was honestly beginning to suspect that the sole purpose of humanity was to be as confusing and contradictory as possible. Still, he wasn’t about to look a gift crab in the claws, he’d take what he could get. He’d been rolling with the weird shit so far, and he supposed he’d just continue rolling with the weird shit and see where that current took him.  
  
Slowly, he nodded.  
  
\---------------------------------------  
  
On the plus side; Morgana was gone. Futaba had removed him from the scene when Mr. Sakura left, presumably to go put him back into whatever hellhole he’d crawled out of, and that was a major relief. Ryuji didn’t exactly feel like trying to handle a volatile man-eating monster and Akira at the same time; it just seemed like a recipe for disaster.  
  
Speaking of Akira, he seemed kinda nervous, which was weird, considering Ryuji was pretty sure he wouldn’t have been able to understand them well enough to know about the whole Doctor thing. Ryuji was nervous, sure, but he was nervous for Akira’s sake. He didn’t want the poor dude to freak out again, he’d had a shit enough day as is! He looked at Akira, still wound around his torso, red tailfin tapping gently against the ground right next to his thighs.  
  
He was just beginning to wonder whether it might be better to at least try explaining the situation beforehand when the doors swished open again, revealing Mr. Sakura in the middle of a conversation with a punk-rock looking young woman that Ryuji could only assume was Dr. Takemi.  
  
“-so he has been fed, Takamaki and I got him some mackerel from the freezers, figured it was a safe enough option.”  
  
“Do you know when the last time he ate before that was?” Dr. Takemi asked, eyeing Akira.  
  
“No, we don’t, but judging from how quickly he devoured the mackerel I think it would be safe to say it’s been a while,” Mr. Sakura responded.  
  
“Hm, well that probably explains why the tranquilizers had him out for so long. Now that he’s eaten though, the effect will be diminished if we attempt to sedate him again,” Dr. Takemi said.  
  
“Yes, well, we’re hoping we can avoid that,” Mr. Sakura responded.  
  
“So you’ve told me. I’ve gotta say, Sojiro, I was having a bit of a hard time believing you when you said that our rescue here was fawning over some high school kid, but I’ll be damned, there you have it,” Dr. Takemi commented, staring at both Ryuji and Akira in a bemused sort of way.  
  
Akira, meanwhile, seemed to be considering strangling Ryuji, as his previously loose coil around his torso had suddenly and considerably tightened to a point where it was kinda hard for him to breathe too deeply. Every muscle in the mer’s body had gone taught as a bow string, bloody red fins flared out all across his body like one of those little desert lizards that Ryuji couldn’t remember the name of right now but had seen videos of on youtube and thought they were funny. This was a lot less funny. It was reminiscent of Mr. Sakura’s unfortunate surprise entrance, except this time the intruder was going to have to not only approach Akira, but touch him, which was seeming like less and less of a good idea with every passing second.  
  
Akira had just been starting to relax a little when Dr. Takemi finally decided to start walking towards them, and any progress towards winding down was obliterated. Every fin that seemed mobile was extended out widely, very slightly trembling along with the mer’s tense body. Grey eyes watched Dr. Takemi with laser focus and once she reached the bottom of the steps Akira moved, suddenly slamming one hand down on the ground, red ear fins flanking his face as he let out a noise that nothing that pretty should ever be able to make. The whole ear fins thing seriously reminded Ryuji of that one dinosaur from Jurassic Park, which would have been a lot more entertaining were it not for how fucking terrifying Akira had just gotten. It wasn’t just the noise, though the noise was certainly bad all on its own, eerily reminiscent of Motherfucker’s war cry, but even more disturbing than the noise was Akira’s face. His pretty features had twisted and contorted into a horrifying snarl and jesus shitting christ his _teeth _. Obviously, Ryuji had known the guy had sharp teeth, he’d seen them, but there was something about seeing every single one of those suckers bared in their full glory that really made one appreciate one’s own mortality. Holy fucking shit those things had been right next to his neck mother of god he’d basically been letting a fucking blender get real up close and personal with his neckbone fucking hell.__  
  
Swallowing nervously, trying to push back the sudden desire to shove Akira off of him and run away screaming (those fucking teeth man! Right up on his face!), Ryuji called down to Dr. Takemi, “Hey, uh, I think he might want you to stay down there.” No shit sherlock, but he’d felt the need to say it anyway, just on the off chance that something had somehow gotten lost in translation there.  
  
Dr. Takemi gave him a sarcastic look, (oh whatever, he was just reiterating), and stopped, locking eyes with Akira. Without breaking eye contact, she slowly stepped back from the stairs, taking care to keep her footfalls as quiet as possible in case noise would set him off, which was quite a feat considering she was wearing heels.  
  
Luckily, it seemed to do the trick, as after a second Akira relaxed, folding his fins back in and slumping back over onto Ryuji, resting his head on the boy’s shoulder while still maintaining eye contact with the Doctor. Ryuji had to admit that he was suddenly a lot more comfortable now that the teeth were once again out of sight. Sure, they were still there, still very much close to his soft, vulnerable flesh, but there was something about actually seeing those things that made the whole idea seem so much freakier.  
  
“Well tiger shark, do you have any ideas?” Dr. Takemi asked, her voice seeming almost bored with just the slightest hint of bemused sarcasm. Fucking- tiger shark? Was that just who he was now? Whatever. More importantly, did he have any ideas? Not really. The best he could come up with was just trying to talk Akira down. It had worked last time, so hey, why not? What was the worst that could happen? Actually, wait, don’t think too deeply about that. The first few thoughts down that path involved teeth and neck-meat, and he didn’t need that energy in his life right now.  
  
“Hey, Akira?” He tried. Akira turned to look at him, which was actually a really good sign. With Mr. Sakura it had taken like, what, three tries or something to get him to turn around? “So, this is gonna sound pretty weird but I’m gonna need you to trust me on this, uh; she’s cool, she’s just here to help, and I know it sucks but you’re actually gonna have to let her up here to check on you cause you’re like, hurt, and she needs to make sure you’re doing okay and all that,” he said, wincing slightly at Akira’s blank stare. No way he actually got all that.  
  
“What?” Akira asked. Dammit.  
  
“Oh shit, uh…” Ryuji muttered to himself. Come on, Sakamoto, think! There had to be some way of communicating the general idea without getting to complicated! What was the most important to get across? Well, obviously the whole ‘injury’ thing was a big one; if Akira didn’t understand he was injured, then there was probably no way he’d let Dr. Takemi anywhere near him. “Okay, uh, you are hurt,” Ryuji said after a second. That was simple enough, right?  
  
Evidently not, as the next thing that came out of Akira’s mouth was; “Hu-rrt?”. Fuck, he didn’t understand the word. That was literally the most important word in that sentence except maybe ‘you’. Ugh, how was he supposed to explain the concept of ‘hurt’ without like, actually injuring anyone? Maybe he could try pantomiming it? Fuck it. When in doubt; charades.  
  
“Uhh… ouch?” he said, before pretending to smack his own hand against the floor and shouting “ow!” (though being careful not to actually be too loud. Startling needle-mouth over here when he was that close to several very important components of his circulatory system was probably a bad idea).  
  
Akira flinched at his movement, and looked confused for a moment, seemingly thinking it through, before saying; “hu-rrt is ow?”, then copying Ryuji’s movement and asking “hu-rrt?” when his hand ‘hit’ the ground. Seemed like he got the concept well enough. Damn this dude was a fast learner.  
  
“Yes! Great job! Hurt is ow, and you are hurt. Do you understand that?” Ryuji asked. He really needed to make sure Akira grasped that core concept before trying to explain anything else.  
  
“I am hu-rrt, yesss,” Akira confirmed.  
  
“Alright, yeah, so far so good. So uh, that’s Doctor Takemi. Doctor Takemi; Akira. Akira; Doctor Takemi,” Ryuji said. It was probably a good idea to introduce them first, yeah? Ryuji didn’t know about Akira, but if some… alien, basically, was about to cruise over and start poking at him he’d at least wanna get to know them first. That and Akira did seem to like being introduced to those around him, probably because he wanted at least some sense of what the fuck was going on.  
  
“He-llo,” Akira greeted, noticeably not bothering with the name. He’d said the names of every single one of Ryuji’s friends, though, now that he thought about it, not Mr. Sakura. Was it just a length thing? Or was it somehow some kind of passive aggressive thing? Pronunciation or something? Who knew? Maybe he was just reading too much into it. Yeah, probably that last one.  
  
“Hello Akira,” Dr. Takemi greeted back, nodding her head ever so slightly in his direction. Alright, now for the hard part to explain.  
  
“Uh-huh, and uh, Dr. Takemi is here to help. You. Help you,” Ryuji stuttered out. Akira looked confused.  
  
“Why?” he asked bluntly, and now it was Ryuji’s turn for confusion. Why? What did he mean ‘why’? He’d understood the part about him being injured, right? Was there just a word that he wasn’t understanding? No, because if that was the case then he probably would’ve just asked about the word like he did with ‘hurt’. Did mer just… not help each other? That sucked.  
  
“What do you mean, ‘why’? You’re hurt!” Ryuji responded. Akira knew they were like, cool, right? Had they somehow done something to make the mer distrust them? Was it him? What exactly had he done?  
  
Akira seemed to think for a moment, before slowly nodding. Alright, so that indicated agreement, which was good, but what exactly was he agreeing to? Was it just the general concept that he was hurt and they were trying to help him out, or was it that he actually understood what that entailed and was agreeing to let Dr. Takemi come up and check him out? Because one of those were two very different possibilities with distinctly different implications of what he was and was not willing to tolerate. Best to take it slow, just to see.  
  
“Okay, uh, I think that means he’s cool with it? But like, go slow, just in case, you know, he’s actually not,” Ryuji said to Dr. Takemi, who nodded and cautiously took a step back towards the stairs. Akira eyed her warily, but gave no indication of aggression. She took a step up the stairs, then another, then another, keeping her eyes on Akira the entire time. He was still pretty visibly uncomfortable with her approach, but didn’t seem like he was about to freak out or anything, which was great.  
  
Upon reaching the platform, Dr. Takemi lowered herself down to sit so that she was roughly at eye level with the two of them, which seemed to calm Akira down somewhat, though he was still noticeably tense. When she reached for him though, he recoiled, shuffling slightly away from her and letting out a small noise of discomfort. She sighed, placing her hand back in her lap.  
  
“You just can’t make it easy, can you?” She asked, though she didn’t seem like she was actually expecting to get a reply. “Well, I can’t say I’m terribly surprised he doesn’t want me touching him, but somebody’s got to make sure there are no further problems with his gills. Infection isn’t exactly likely, but god knows what kind of bacteria or other nasty shit may have been on that net when it caught him, and considering the fact that it actually managed to get stuck in his gills we really can’t take any chances here,” she said, sighing.  
  
Ryuji fidgeted uncomfortably. He felt kinda bad that this was so difficult, even though he really had no control over the situation. Net _in _the gills? Damn, that must’ve sucked. No wonder Akira seemed so antsy, if Ryuji had basically choked on some slimy-ass rope he’d be pretty pissed too.__  
  
“Kid,” Dr. Takemi said after a moment, “ I might need you to help me out a little here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah I was away for a while, and then I got back and was super tired, and then it was my birthday today, (or I guess technically yesterday since it is past midnight lol), and I figured out my god has terminal cancer so that's... yeah. If I'm kinda mia for a while, I apologize I'm just... I've kinda got some shit going on, ya know? Sorry. 
> 
> As always, tell me what you think. Please. I'm only human, desperate for proof that I/my creations have been Seen during my time on this earth before I too am inevitably erased by Time. And I'm a validation hoe. There's also that.


	11. Common Sense

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy that could've gone _really _badly__
> 
> Also; Boop!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My parents: boy that kid's been writing for a while how long does it take to edit a 1.5 page essay
> 
> Me: *has not touched said essay, has been writing 17 pages worth of this shit instead*
> 
> Sorry it's been a while guys. I mean, for my inconsistent ass I suppose it hasn't really been _that _long, but still. Here you go.__

“What do you mean, ‘help you out a little’?” Ryuji asked warily. If she wanted him to like, restrain Akira or something so that he couldn’t squirm away while she checked up on him then Ryuji was going to have to pass. The obvious health and safety implications were only a small part of it; he was pretty sure Akira wouldn’t be able to do much worse than nick him if he like, pinned the guy down or whatever, but he could handle a little scratch or two. Much more concerning was the fact that doing that would definitely fuck up whatever this thing going on with them was, and he didn’t want that. He really, really liked Akira, and he was pretty sure Akira at least somewhat liked him too, (though probably not in the same way), so it would be double shitty of him to try anything like that now because it would also likely tank Akira’s chances of trusting any of them at all in the future. Hard pass.  
  
“Well, he’s obviously fine with you touching him for whatever reason -speaking of which I do have a couple of questions for you but we can deal with that later- so I figured we could try going about this with me just guiding you through what to do while you handle the parts involving physical contact. There’s nothing overly complicated involved with that, it’s pretty basic stuff, so your lack of expertise shouldn’t pose a problem, and it seems like the most efficient way to get this done,” Dr. Takemi said. Ryuji thought for a moment. That… could work, he guessed. Of course, he had absolutely no idea what the fuck he was doing, but she had said that she’d guide him through it and he wouldn’t necessarily need to…  
  
“Of course,” she continued, “if you’re unwilling, I completely understand. I could always just do this the usual way and tranq him-”  
  
“How about we not do that?” Ryuji interrupted.  
  
“Well are you willing to work with me here?” Dr. Takemi asked.  
  
“Yeah, sure. I mean, I know jackshit about medical stuff, but like, you said that wouldn’t be a problem, right?” Ryuji replied.  
  
“Not for this, no,” Dr. Takemi said. “This is just a pretty basic exam; checking for signs of infection, seeing how he’s healing, looking for any other injuries we might have missed- that sort of stuff. I don’t actually need that much from your end, you’ll be fine. Well, probably.”  
  
“Alright cool,” Ryuji said, pointedly ignoring her last remark. “So what exactly do I… do?”  
  
“See the pair of gills on his torso?” Dr. Takemi asked.  
  
“Uh, yeah? Kinda hard not to.”  
  
“Don’t be a smartass. I want you to put your hand on the set to his left, your right. Don’t apply enough force to cover them, because that would be suffocating him, and obviously don’t stick your hand into them. Just lightly touch your hand to them,” Dr. Takemi ordered.  
  
Oh boy. Ryuji removed his right hand from Akira’s hair and gently touched his fingers to the slits on the boy’s side. Akira tensed up and flinched at the contact, though he didn’t try to squirm away or attack him, which was good.  
  
“What?” Akira asked. Oh shit right, he’d completely forgotten to explain. Ryuji took his hand off of Akira’s gills. It just seemed like the better thing to do at the moment.  
  
“Sorry Akira, I should have explained. I’m trying to help with Dr. Takemi. This way she doesn’t touch you, but can still help you. Does that sound okay?” He asked. God he hoped that made it through translation.  
  
Akira looked like he was thinking for a moment, grey eyes darting back and forth from him to Dr. Takemi and back again.  
  
“Sss-he doesss not touch?” Akira asked after a moment, eyeing Dr. Takemi warily.  
  
“No, just me,” Ryuji confirmed. “Are you alright with me touching you?” he asked. So far the answer seemed to have been yes, but that easily could’ve changed, and it was always best to make sure.  
  
“Ry-u-ji? Yesss,” Akira replied. Ryuji tried his best to ignore the sense of pride he got from hearing that. “Sss-till h-elp?” Akira asked. He seemed to have a bit of difficulty with the ‘h’ sound right after the the double ‘l’, the question coming out particularly breathy, though still understandable.  
  
“Yup, still helping. Is that okay?” Ryuji responded. Again, best to keep pushing it with the whole consent thing. He wanted to be absolutely sure.  
  
“O-kay,” Akira said, nodding slightly and shifting a little so that he was no longer leaning away from Ryuji’s hand. He still didn’t look super comfortable with the idea, but honestly? Who could blame him? Ryuji wouldn’t be too hot on some unknown creature touching what he was pretty sure was basically his throat. Well, actually, he’d been fine with Akira hanging around near his neck, but that was different. Akira was hot. That wasn’t the whole reason he was cool with it, but it was definitely a portion of it. The other portion of it being that he wasn’t the one outside of his own element. He was pretty sure that if he were in Akira’s position, he’d be a whole lot less comfortable.  
  
He moved his hand back to Akira’s gills. The sensation was… weird. His torso moved with his breathing just like a human’s did, but what was odd was the movement of the gills themselves. Ryuji couldn’t explain what specifically was so strange about them, it was just something about the feeling of the four giant slits like, actually moving, opening and closing with each breath, that was uniquely alien in a way he couldn’t quite describe. It was sort of like the low temperature of Akira’s skin, or the light scratchiness of the tips of his earfins against the underside of Ryuji’s jaw; small things that were just slightly off, that served to remind him of Akira’s inherent non-humanity. The teeth had also served to remind him of that, but in a much more jarring, much more frightening way. These little details were a ‘huh’ to the teeth’s ‘holy fuck’, both reminders, yes, but with wildly different degrees of aggression, like the difference between being awoken to the smell of bacon and being awoken to your pet rat climbing up the inside of your pyjama pants.  
  
“Alright, now what?” Ryuji asked.  
  
“Now, I’m going to need you to feel around all four individual slits, as well as the surrounding area, and tell me if anything feels overly warm or otherwise unusual,” Dr. Takemi instructed.  
  
“Okay, uh, can I ask why?”  
  
“If anything feels particularly hot, as in, noticeably hotter than the rest of the body, that could be a sign of infection,” Dr. Takemi explained.  
  
“Oh yeah that would not be good,” Ryuji agreed, lightly moving his fingers around Akira’s gills. Was this weird? Because he felt kind of weird about doing this for some reason, like, embarrassed. It seemed kinda intimate, almost, which was… pretty uncomfortable, honestly. He wasn’t at all against the idea of intimacy with this guy, if anything he was maybe a little too into said idea, but like, feeling somebody up because you’re both down for it and feeling somebody up because they’re hurt and you’re trying to see exactly how bad it is are two very different scenarios.  
  
As Ryuji’s fingers brushed across the third slit from the top Akira hissed and recoiled slightly. Not the same kind of hiss as earlier, thank god, but more of an ‘ow that hurt’ type of hiss than an ‘I’m going to crush your windpipe with my teeth in approximately five seconds’ type of hiss. Regardless, Ryuji removed his hand immediately, jerking back as if he’d been the one hurt.  
  
“Aw shit, sorry Akira,” he said. It wasn’t exactly his fault, like, he hadn’t been the guy to cause the freaking injury, but he still felt bad about agitating it.  
  
“No sss-orr-y,” Akira replied, smiling a little. Alright, so he wasn’t upset, which was good.  
  
“Uh, is that bad?” Ryuji asked Dr. Takemi. Obviously Akira being hurt in any regard wasn’t great, but he wanted to know if this was more of a ‘residual sting’ type hurt or a ‘death is coming’ type hurt.  
  
“Not exactly,” Dr. Takemi replied, quickly scribbling something down on the clipboard she’d bought with her. “The brunt of the damage was dealt to the bottom two gill slits on both the right and left sides of his torso, the net actually managing to get lodged inside of them, which effectively choked him out. It’s only been about 20 hours since the injury occured, so pain is to be expected. Do you feel any abnormal heat around the area?” she asked.  
  
“Uh, no, not really. It’s the same temperature as the rest of him, I think,” Ryuji replied, gently placing his hand back upon the area, cautious of how much pressure he was using. Yikes, that sounded super shitty. He hoped it didn’t hurt _that _bad…__  
  
“Alright, that’s good. We still can’t entirely rule out infection, but no symptoms at this point is a good sign, and if nothing’s cropped up by this time tomorrow then it should be safe to say that he’s fine on that front,” she said, scrawling something else down as she did so. “Is he bleeding at all?”  
  
Oh shit, bleeding? Ryuji didn’t feel anything like blood. Akira had been out of the water for long enough now that he was mostly dry, so Ryuji was pretty sure that he wouldn’t wind up running into the issue of mistaking blood for water, but he looked anyway just to be sure.  
  
“Uh, no, it doesn’t look like it. Was he like, bleeding a lot when you guys bought him in or something?” He asked.  
  
“No, but it was possible that things could have gotten worse and lead to a point where he would be bleeding. But, as you just said, that isn’t the case,” Dr. Takemi replied, her pen briefly scratching across paper. “Now I’m going to need you to do the same thing with the gills on the other side of his torso.”  
  
Ryuji went ahead and repeated the process. Thankfully, the results were the same; no blood, no signs of infection, all good. Well, not all good, but all better than it could be, which was something. Akira didn’t seem nearly as perturbed as he had earlier, which was a definite plus. He seemed calm, almost bored, his head resting lazily on Ryuji’s shoulder, gazing downward as he traced one clawed finger lightly over the design on the teen’s t-shirt. It kinda tickled, but certainly wasn’t… unpleasant. Ryuji found himself grateful that the design was only on the top half of the shirt.  
  
Dr. Takemi read over the sheets she’d bought with her, tapping the black ballpoint pen she’d used to take notes against her bottom lip as she did so and nodding every so often. She looked… well it was kinda hard to tell since she always looked sorta bored, but she didn’t look upset at all.  
  
“Alright Tiger Shark,” she said. For fuck’s sake. “Looking good. One last thing we have to do is make sure we didn’t miss anything.”  
  
“Miss anything?” Ryuji asked.  
  
“Yeah. When we bought him in our obvious focus was on his gills given they were the most pressing issue, but his entire body was caught in the net, and he was thrashing around like crazy, too. It’s entirely possible that he obtained other injuries that we overlooked at the time,” Dr. Takemi explained.  
  
Ryuji frowned. He hadn’t seen any injuries on Akira. Then again though, the gills thing hadn’t exactly been visible, and he didn’t know enough about mer to know whether something was injured or just like that naturally. If there was something as bad as the gill thing going on that they hadn’t noticed yet, that could be seriously bad. What if he’d like, bashed his head or something? Shit.  
  
“Okay yeah sounds good,” he said. “What do I do?”  
  
“We did already think to check for head trauma, as there were plenty of rocks in the area that he could have smacked into, but there were no signs of head injury, which was good,” Dr. Takemi started. Guess that answered that question, thank god. “Now, the biggest candidate for possible injury would be his fins, since the skin there is very thin and could easily have been torn by him thrashing around in the net. Judging from his reaction to me earlier, it looks like all of the mobile ones are working perfectly fine, but it’s best to check anyway.”  
  
“Yeah he’s been moving those around all day, they seem fine to me at least. The ones on his head, the uh, ear ones especially seem to be working pretty well,” Ryuji responded. Said earfins were currently drooped in a way that indicated Akira wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention, which was fine. If anyone understood the inability to stay focused for long periods of time it was Ryuji Sakamoto.  
  
“Yes, there certainly doesn’t seem to be an issue, but it’s always best to be as close to positive as possible, especially considering how potentially crippling fin damage could be. Before I worked here I once had a colleague who was trying to rehabilitate a mer that had washed up on the beach with all of the fins on its tail ripped off and the one on its back really torn up. Never could figure out exactly what happened to it, best guess was some sort of freak got a hold of it and decided to make a buck on the black market, but those things don’t grow back, and they don’t heal very well either, if at all. It couldn’t swim anymore and started refusing to eat. You can guess how that ended,” Dr. Takemi said. Ryuji blanched, and he could hear Ann make some kind of noise from down below him. Jesus christ that was awful. Why was it that every story he heard about humans and mer interacting always went down the same ‘dude holy shit _why _’ route?__  
  
“Yeah okay we should probably check the fins,” he agreed.  
  
“Seems like that would be a good idea, yes,” Dr. Takemi deadpanned. Ryuji made a face. He got enough sarcasm from his own friends, thanks, he did not need it from anyone else, nevermind a freaking adult. “Start with the ones on his head. You said they seemed fine, and I’d agree with that assessment, but just feel for any tears or anything of the sort, just in case.”  
  
“Well, uh, one of them is currently pressed into my shoulder. Should I… try to move him or something? ‘Cause I’ll warn you right now; he probably won’t like that,” Ryuji said. Dr. Takemi eyed Akira over.  
  
“No, I don’t think there’s enough of a concern to warrant trying to move him if he doesn’t want to be moved. Besides, fins seem to be sensitive enough that he’d be in a lot of pain if it were injured, meaning he probably wouldn’t be smashing it between his skull and your shoulder. Just check the other one real quick,” she responded.  
  
Ryuji did so, lightly feeling across the smooth surface of the bright red fin. Akira tensed up slightly, his finger halting in the middle of its tracing and eyes eyes glancing up at Ryuji with a pretty obvious ‘um, what the fuck?’ message behind them. Ryuji had to admit that it was pretty freaking weird. Like, hey, let me just start poking at your ear, thanks. It was just strange.  
  
“Nope, all good,” Ryuji reported. Dr. Takemi nodded.  
  
“Good, good, that’s what I thought. Now check the ones on his arms.”  
  
Ryuji moved his hand down to Akira’s left forearm before stopping. There was a bit of an issue with that plan.  
  
“It’s uh, it’s folded up?” He said. “I don’t think it’d be a great idea to like, try and unfold it either. That just seems kinda uncool.”  
  
“Yes, I wouldn’t advise that,” Dr. Takemi agreed. “I suppose we should forgo those as well for the time being. Again, there didn’t seem to be any problems with them, he was able to move them just fine. Check the big one on his back. Any damage would likely be at the ends, so you shouldn’t have to worry about trying to move it.”  
  
Now that he could do. It wasn’t extended at all, but it was large enough that even folded he could see the bright red of the fin itself. He lightly brushed his hand across the fin’s ridges, feeling for any signs of damage to the thin skin in between the spines. He ended up feeling nothing of the sort, but what he did definitely feel was Akira shuddering a little bit, as if someone had just dripped an ice cube down his back. Ryuji suppressed a snicker.  
  
“Seems like we’re good here, too,” Ryuji said. He had to redouble his efforts not to laugh when Akira shot him a look, evidently somewhat displeased at being tickled. Just to jack with him, he did it again, lightly running his finger across the ridges of Akira’s backfin, unable to stop the snort that escaped him at Akira’s full-bodied shudder and indignant squawk. Akira, in turn, made a face at Ryuji, glaring at him for a moment (though luckily without any real malice) before smacking him on the nose with one finned hand. It didn’t actually hurt, he hadn’t put much force behind it, but it was still enough to stun him for a moment before he just burst out laughing. He could see that Akira was grinning too, giggling slightly, and he could have sworn that the strange expression on Dr. Takemi’s face might have been her trying to conceal a smile.  
  
“Aw come on!” Ryuji heard Ann groan.  
  
“What?” He asked, still laughing.  
  
“I didn’t have my camera out!” She complained. “I so wish I could’ve recorded that! You just got ‘booped’ by a mer and I didn’t manage to catch it on camera!”  
  
“You’ve failed us all, Ann,” he replied.  
  
“Yeah I have. Failed myself, too. Goddammit,” she muttered.  
  
“I don’t mean to interrupt,” Dr. Takemi spoke up, “but there are a few more things I’m going to need you to check.”  
  
“Oh, right, sorry,” Ryuji responded, finally managing to get ahold of himself and quit giggling. He turned to look at Dr. Takemi, though Akira was still smiling at him out of the corner of his eye, which was… distracting, to say the least. “What, uh, what do I need to do next?”  
  
“Well so far all of the mobile fins seem perfectly fine, which is good, but now we need to check the immobile fins on his tail. The big one at the end is obviously pretty important, but both that larger fin and the two smaller ones up closer to his torso are made up of somewhat different stuff than the others. Of course, the big one is plenty strong, as it’s the most important to mobility, so it can take a fair bit of damage without actually getting injured, but it’s the two smaller ones I’m worried about. While they don’t actually seem to have any real function, it would still be best to have them as intact as possible, but they’re incredibly delicate. If any one of his fins were to get torn, those would be the ones, so I’m going to need you to check those two fins for any signs of damage, got it?” Dr. Takemi explained.  
  
Ryuji eyed over the fins in question. They were certainly different from the rest of the fins on his body. Same color, sure, but whereas the others were rigid structures, shiny red skin stretched between spines like a fan, these were much more… flimsy. He’d seen the way they looked in the water yesterday, like scarves, he remembered thinking, floating as gently underwater as the black hair that had framed Akira’s face like a halo. They were pretty. He couldn’t think of any possible explanation as to what the hell they were for, but they were pretty. One kinda pressing issue though…  
  
“Uh, Dr. Takemi?” Ryuji started, his face already flushing. This was embarrassing as shit but he felt that it needed to be said.  
  
“Yes?” She responded, one eyebrow quirked upwards.  
  
“So, uh, I don’t know that much about… er… anatomy, I guess, on mer, but uh, assuming it’s relatively similar to people, aren’t those fins kinda close to, uh, somewhere that shouldn’t be touched?” He asked, blushing furiously. He wasn’t sure why exactly, but something gave him the distinct sense that he maybe _should not _try to touch those. Like, they were right on the guy’s hips, and that was a little too close to junk-town for his comfort. Again, it certainly wasn’t that he had a problem with the principle of Akira-related intimacy, but that he felt it would be kinda violating in this circumstance.__  
  
“If you’re questioning the proximity of those fins to the genitalia then yes, you would be correct in saying that the two are rather close. All the more reason to ensure that no injury has occured, yes?” Dr. Takemi responded blandly. Ryuji stared at her. How was she so freaking nonchalant about this? Didn’t she see the obvious problem with this scenario?  
  
“Listen Doc, I’m not trying to be, like, difficult about this or nothing but… I’m not… super comfortable with the idea of getting, uh, handsy here. Like, I don’t wanna be a creep, and I feel like that’d be pretty creepy,” he said.  
  
“I understand your hesitance, Tiger Shark, but we’ve gotta at least try to make sure neither of those fins were damaged and you’re the only person so far who he’ll let touch him,” Dr. Takemi replied.  
  
“Yeah, he seems like he trusts me, which is why it would be extra shitty of me to just like, grab at him right now. I get the distinct feeling he wouldn’t be too comfortable with that, I mean, I sure as hell wouldn’t. Aliens started tryina touch my junk I’d be flipping my shit!” Ryuji argued. Seriously, he really liked Akira. Like, _really _liked Akira. The last thing he wanted to do was be a total creep and scare the guy off forever. That and he just didn’t wanna be a creep in the first place. He may have been labelled a delinquent, sure, but he still understood stuff like boundaries and, you know, consent and all that shit, and he was pretty damn sure this would be crossing a few of those lines.__  
  
“I suppose you make a fair point,” Dr. Takemi admitted.  
  
“Yeah, and I did, you know, see him swimming around earlier, and I was able to get a pretty good look at those fins, and they looked perfectly fine, no tears or anything, so I think he’s probably good on that front. I’m just saying that like, I don’t think there’s enough of a risk here to warrant basically groping the guy and having him hate us all forever, you know?” Ryuji said.  
  
“I guess I hadn’t factored that into consideration, but you’ll have to forgive me for that,” Dr. Takemi sighed. “Akira is a unique case, to say the least. I’ve never heard of any other circumstance in which a mer has actually been conscious during a medical examination, never mind friendly enough that something like ‘trust’ plays a part, so I guess the idea of boundaries just never crossed my mind,” she confessed, pausing for a moment before adding, “You know, a mer’s ‘human half’ has always been obvious, but I must say that Akira is the first mer I’ve ever encountered that I am able to consider with a more ‘human’ frame of mind.”  
  
“Yeah, well, Akira’s just cool like that,” Ryuji responded. He really had no excuse as to why he felt a sense of pride upon hearing that, but he did, his thought process being something along the lines of ‘fuck yeah my boy’s awesome’. Akira wasn’t necessarily ‘his boy’, but it would appear that his subconscious had already designated him as such.  
  
Upon hearing his name, Akira’s earfins twitched slightly, picking his head up off of Ryuji’s shoulder to look at him, big grey eyes blinking curiously. Ryuji smiled, he couldn’t help it.  
  
“Hi,” he said. A stupid, pointless thing to say, but who gave a shit?  
  
“He-llo,” Akira responded, beaming right back up at him.  
  
“Yes, I suppose he is, isn’t he?” Dr. Takemi said, and this time there was no mistaking the small smile on her face.  
  
\----------------------------------------  
  
Duktrtakmi (or whatever the fuck her name was) had definitely gotten too close for comfort. She was no longer towering above them, which was an improvement, but she was still within lunging distance, and Akira didn’t particularly appreciate that. Still, she was supposedly here to help, and he’d made a promise both to himself and to Ryuji that he would at least try not to freak out about her. It was solely because of this promise that he only scooted away from her when she reached out to touch him, rather than shrieking and trying to shove her off the platform as he had initially wanted to. Nope, sorry lady, but not today. Not today, not ever. He’d had plenty of experience with adult humans relating to physical contact and he’d rather not have any more, ever.  
  
The woman, (he was just gonna call her Takmi) grumbled something short to herself before launching into a much longer speech seemingly directed at Ryuji. This theory was further supported by the fact that Ryuji responded to whatever it was she’d just said, and the two of them seemed to converse for a while. Akira relaxed somewhat. This, he could deal with. This was fine.  
  
What was less fine was the hand that suddenly ended up on his gills. It was Ryuji’s hand, which prevented him from freaking out as badly as he would’ve otherwise. Ryuji had so far proven to be safe, no- more than safe, kind-, but even that fact couldn’t entirely shake the discomfort he felt at having someone touch a vital fucking organ.  
  
“What?” he asked. He was pretty sure Ryuji wouldn’t go poking around at his gills without some reason, but he would really like to know what exactly that was.  
  
Ryuji, Spirits bless his name, seemed to notice his discomfort and immediately removed his hand from Akira’s gills.  
  
“Sorry Akira, I should have explained. I’m trying to help with Dr. Takemi. This way she doesn’t touch you, but can still help you. Does that sound okay?” Ryuji said. Akira processed that. First off, there was an apology, which, even though he wasn’t really upset with Ryuji, was still very nice to hear. After that though things were a little harder to understand. He’d heard Takmi’s name, (the full version, that is), the word ‘help’ a few times, and ‘touch’, as well as a request for permission, which he really appreciated. Technically there was nothing stopping any of these people from just going ahead and doing whatever the fuck they wanted to him, and he knew that they knew it, so the fact that Ryuji seemed to care enough to actually bother asking him for permission was… nice.  
  
Seriously though, what was actually being asked of him? He understood ‘help’, he understood ‘touch’, he understood Takmi’s name, and he understood that he was being asked his permission for something related to that, but that was about as specific as he could figure. His best guess was that Ryuji was asking permission to touch him, specifically his gills it seemed like, in order to help him. That would make sense, given the scenario, and if it were Ryuji then he supposed he was fine with it, but that was the part he was a little bit stuck on because Takmi had also been mentioned, and if the question was whether or not he would be cool with her touching him, the answer was a resounding ‘no’. He figured he should probably try and clear that up.  
  
“Sss-he doess not touch?” he asked, eyeing over the human in question. Were those spines on her neck? He’d never seen a human, or a mer for that matter, with spines on the neck. How would one even use those? You’d have to like, headbutt somebody, but with your neck, which seemed really difficult and ineffective, and also that image would have been a lot funnier if this woman weren’t so intimidating. He supposed it might be defense against someone attempting to smother her neck set of gills, but would that mean she also had spines on her torso set as well? Wait, did humans even have gills? He’d been up on Ryuji’s neck for a while now and certainly hadn’t seen or felt anything of the sort. How the fuck did they breathe then? What-  
  
“No, just me,” Ryuji said, snapping Akira out of his spiralling current of thought. “Are you alright with me touching you?”  
  
Was he alright with Ryuji touching him? Uh, _yeah _. He was super alright with that. He would’ve thought that the literal crawling all over him and purring like one of those loud things that humans attached to the backs of some smaller boats to make them go faster would’ve communicated that by now. He understood what Ryuji was asking though; there was definitely a difference between scratching at his earfins (delightful) and poking around his injured gills (significantly less delightful). But Ryuji had said that they were going to try and help him, and Spirits damn him if he wouldn’t like to be be able to breathe without it hurting.__  
  
“Ry-u-ji? Yesss,” Akira said, and then, just to be sure, “Sss-till h-elp?” He sincerely doubted it, but on the off chance that this was just poking around his gills for the sake of poking around his gills then no, he would prefer not to. Also, that was kind of hard to pronounce. What was it with the human language and these weird flat sounds?  
  
“Yup, still helping. Is that okay?” Ryuji confirmed. He really was serious about this permission thing, huh? Fucking incredible.  
  
“O-kay,” Akira said. Then, as a show of good faith towards Ryuji (and also maybe an attempt at convincing himself that he was less nervous about this than he actually was), Akira scooted back over slightly so that he was no longer leaning away from where Ryuji’s hand had initially made contact. In that same show of good faith he very purposefully did not flinch when Ryuji’s hand went right back to touching his gills, in spite of the way his stomach twisted at the sensation. Really, he didn’t know why it made him so damn uncomfortable, (even if Ryuji fucked up and smothered that set he had an entire separate set of gills on his neck that he could breathe with), but it did- it really, _really _, did.__  
  
As Ryuji and Takmi began talking, Ryuji’s finger poking around his gills, Akira wound up in an argument against his own, more primal, brain, which went something like this;  
  
Hand! ON gills!! Remove!!! -- No he’s trying to help -- Remove!!! -- No we said we’d let him help -- Human!!! Touching!!! -- It’s Ryuji. We like Ryuji -- Human touch!! Touch gills!! Need for breathing!!! Attack!!! -- No we’re not gonna do that -- Attack!!! -- No -- aaa _aaaAAAAAAAAA _\-- You’re not helpful.__  
  
Said argument was cut short by a sudden burst of pain from the spot on Akira’s gills where Ryuji was currently touching. The surprise of it combined with the sting itself made Akira flinch, letting loose a small hiss in the process. Ryuji jerked his hand away in a flash.  
  
“Aw shit, sorry Akira,” Ryuji said, looking genuinely apologetic in a way that actually made him smile. He hadn’t done anything, but was apologizing anyway, how sweet.  
  
“No sss-orr-y,” Akira replied. Honestly, it was fine. Ryuji went back to talking with Takmi, and Akira relaxed. Somehow, that had actually managed to calm him down. He supposed it was just the further confirmation of the fact that yeah, Ryuji really didn’t mean any harm, that enabled him to settle down somewhat. If he was that apologetic over something as simple as that, then he was probably good. The overly cautious way Ryuji reinstated contact just furthered that notion.  
  
As Ryuji went about with… well actually Akira still wasn’t entirely sure what exactly he was doing, Akira found himself growing a little tired again. The scenario itself was far from relaxing, certainly, but all his body seemed to be concerned with was whether or not he was comfortable (overall yes, Ryuji made for an excellent sleep-rock) and whether or not there was anything demanding his immediate attention (no). Given both of those questions had satisfactory answers, his body was deadset on going to sleep, right now, and the fact that Akira didn’t particularly want to held no bearing. He settled for tracing the patterns on the bright yellow fabric that covered Ryuji’s chest. It was something to do, he supposed.  
  
He started a bit at the feeling of Ryuji touching his left earfin, stopping in the middle of his tracing to shoot him a look. What was he doing? It wasn’t exactly unpleasant, just… weird, and also kinda out of nowhere. Last time he checked, his earfins weren’t anywhere near his gills. Well, not the ones on his torso, that is. He supposed they were kinda close to the ones on his neck, but whatever, Ryuji hadn’t been checking those ones.  
  
Whatever that was all about, Ryuji stopped after only a moment, so Akira decided to just shrug it off. He’d lost his place a moment ago, and was in the middle of trying to remember what point in the pattern he’d been on when Ryuji’s hand suddenly ran down the folded fin on his back, making him shudder. Okay, that felt weird.  
  
Akira glared up at Ryuji, who was grinning in a way that indicated he definitely found this amusing. And then he did it again. Somehow it was even worse when he was expecting it. Akira felt the skin all across his body spasm and was unable to prevent himself from letting loose an indignant sound. Great Spirits that felt _weird _!__  
  
Ryuji wasn’t quite laughing yet, but the look on his face made it clear that that was only because he was trying very hard not to. Akira glared at him, though it was really more of a pout. He wasn’t sure what possessed him to do it, but without thinking he found himself administering a light jab straight to Ryuji’s nose. They both froze. Oh fuck. Why did he just do that? Podmates did stuff like that all the time, it was a common response to teasing, a sort of playful ‘cut it out’ gesture, but the nose was actually somewhat of a weak point, and hitting a mer on the nose hard enough would stun them for a period of time, which was a lot less playful. So Akira had either engaged in behavior that was far too familiar (again), or fucking stunned him. Simply put; he’d fucked up.  
  
Ryuji didn’t move for an agonizing few seconds, (seconds which Akira spent plotting increasingly ridiculous plans of escape), before bursting out in laughter. At first, Akira just waited nervously, still bracing for some indication of anger from the boy at his mistake, but it only took moments for him to start laughing too. It was just kinda infectious that way. Even after Ryuji started talking again, Akira still found himself smiling. He was pretty sure that he’d done more laughing and smiling in the past hours or so than he’d done in his entire life. His face was starting to hurt a little.  
  
Still unable to wipe the dopey grin off of his face, Akira butted his head into Ryuji’s shoulder, though Ryuji was too busy talking to Takmi to really notice. The two almost seemed to be arguing over something, though neither party seemed particularly aggressive or defensive, which was good. He did not feel like getting caught in the crossfire on that one. Whatever their disagreement was though, it wrapped up pretty fast, with Ryuji coming out the apparent victor, which was cool. Akira may have had absolutely no idea what they were arguing about, but whatever it was, he was on Ryuji’s side.  
  
“Yeah, well, Akira’s just cool like that,” Ryuji said. Huh? That was his name. He was pretty sure he’d heard Takmi say it a few seconds ago too, but he didn’t particularly feel the need to respond to her. She still kinda freaked him out. Akira glanced up at Ryuji. Did he need something?  
  
“Hi,” Ryuji said. He was smiling. He had a very nice smile.  
  
“He-llo,” Akira replied, not even bothering to wonder why it was that Ryuji was greeting him for seemingly no reason. What did it matter? It made him happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On the topic of the tailfins, I've been imagining them as kind of like the mer equivalent of like the inner thigh area, specifically the upper inner thigh area. Like, you wouldn't technically be actually touching the junk, but it's sensitive enough and close enough that you almost might as well be. Just in case anyone was wondering why Akira freaked out so bad or why Ryuji was so hesitant.


	12. Ssssnnnnzzz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Looooot of talking. Like, a lot. 
> 
> Questions are asked, questions are answered, more questions arise, Ryuji fucks up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is short. It's mostly dialogue and exposition, which I usually try to avoid, but I had to do it at some point. I tried to break it up near the end. Again, I'm sorry. Please try to enjoy in spite of that.

When Dr. Takemi said she had ‘a couple’ of questions to ask, she was lying. ‘A couple’ meant two, two questions, and that was it. What she apparently meant to say was more along the lines of ‘a fuck ton’. Seriously, Ryuji could appreciate curiosity --he himself had been chastised on more than one occasion when he was younger for ‘asking too many questions’-- but this was nearing the point of ridiculous.  
  
“Have you ever had contact with mer before this point?”  
  
“No.”  
  
“Have you ever seen mer before this point?”  
  
“Only through a screen.”  
  
“Have you ever worked with sea creatures of any kind?”  
  
“Uh… when I was in grade school our class had a turtle and I fed it sometimes, does that count?”  
  
Dr. Takmei seemed to ponder that for a moment before saying, “No, not really.”  
  
“Okay then no.”  
  
“Have you ever worked with animals in general?”  
  
“I had a pet rat named Ichika when I was like, 12, uh, Ichika was actually the name of a girl in my class who I had a crush on at the time, which I guess makes it kinda weird that I named my rat after her, but it wasn’t like I put a whole lot of thought into that… uh… that doesn’t count either, does it?” Ryuji mumbled.  
  
Dr. Takemi stared blandly at him. “No, no it doesn’t.”  
  
“Alright well then please try to forget I just said that. Uh, no. No I haven’t really worked with animals that much, which kinda sucks, ‘cause I’ve always really wanted a dog, but our apartment doesn’t allow them ‘cause our landlord’s a fun-hating asshole. It’s not even like I’d get that big of a dog anyway, even though that’d be awesome, but just like, a shiba or something. I’ve seen shiba before so I know I like them, they’re tails are kinda funny the way they’re just like a little curl of fur right on the butt and-”  
  
“I’m not done asking questions,” Dr. Takemi interrupted, effectively cutting Ryuji off in the middle of his rambling.  
  
“Oh, right. Uh, sorry, ask away,” he responded, somewhat sheepish.  
  
“Thanks. Had you had any contact with this particular mer, Akira, before he approached you earlier today?”  
  
“Contact as in physical? Because no, the first physical contact was when he came swimming up to me earlier after those asshole science guys left,” Ryuji responded, remembering vividly how certain he’d been that Akira was about to eat his face off. Ah, memories.  
  
“Yes, I remember hearing about a… difficulty with Akira regarding Takenaka and Hayashi. When you first entered the room, what was happening?” Dr. Takemi asked, eyeing over the notes she’d been taking as he answered.  
  
“Kind of a shit show, honestly. Science dudes were bandaging up, pretty sure both of them were bleeding at least a little, and Akira was curled up in the corner making this like, really terrible noise,” Ryuji responded. Dr. Takemi’s left eyebrow quirked up, brown eyes suddenly fixed on Ryuji’s face, alert.  
  
“What kind of terrible noise?” She asked, a lot more intense than she had been a moment ago.  
  
“Uh, I dunno? Kinda like screaming, I guess, but also kinda… siren-y? It like, fluctuated, I think is the right word, like, it wasn’t just one long sound but a repeating sound? I dunno! All I know is that he sounded, like, really upset, you know?” He replied. He didn’t know why she was suddenly so serious, but it was sorta making him nervous.  
  
“And did you do anything at that point?” Dr. Takemi asked, staring dead at him.  
  
“I mean, I yelled at the science guys, kinda chased them outta there. I figured from like, context clues and shit that they were probably the issue, which, they were. I mean, I’m not entirely sure what it is they did, exactly, but they clearly fucked up somehow ‘cause like… look at him,” Ryuji said, gesturing to Akira, who by now appeared to be fully asleep, “he’s not exactly violent.”  
  
“With you, no. But if you’ll think back to about ten minutes ago, when I was initially attempting to approach him, you’ll recall that he responded to me in a way that certainly seemed to indicate violent intent,” Dr. Takemi refuted, tapping her pen on top of her clipboard in a halfway gesture towards Akira’s mouth-region --currently resting very near to Ryuji’s throat, as it had been for a while.  
  
“Well, he didn’t actually hurt you,” Ryuji argued.  
  
“Tiger Shark, I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me, honestly, that you think he wouldn’t have lunged at me had you not calmed him down,” Dr. Takemi responded bluntly, staring him down. Ryuji averted his eyes after only a second, scowling somewhat. She was right. No matter how much he tried to twist it around in his head he couldn’t think up a single scenario in which she would’ve been able to just keep walking up those stairs without getting got, but still!  
  
“Well, okay, yeah, but that’s just ‘cause he’s afraid! He’s just trying to protect himself!” Ryuji defended.  
  
“Oh no, I don’t disagree. I’m not implying that Akira’s inherently violent, but that’s just the thing; most creatures aren’t. Fear will make a fine monster out of just about anything,” Dr. Takemi responded. “I can completely understand him being afraid of me, and I’m willing to bet my left tit that he was afraid of those other two scientists. The question is though; why isn’t he afraid of you?”  
  
Ryuji paused. Truthfully, that same question had been nagging him all day now. Why was Akira so chill with him? What was so freaking special about Ryuji that Akira was literally all over him, whilst simultaneously seeming terrified (or at the very least uneasy) with everyone else? Did he actually have like, mer-catnip on him without realizing it?  
  
“I dunno, really,” he replied. Dr. Takemi’s expression was smile-adjacent, and it was honestly kind of unnerving. He found himself grateful for the fact that Akira was not awake to see it. The woman looked full on mad scientist.  
  
“Tell me, at what point did Akira stop making that sound?”  
  
“Uh, I think right around when I started yelling at the science guys?”  
  
“So, to recap; you walk in the room, Akira is upset, you respond to that by chasing off the source of the problem, Akira quiets down, and then approaches you, suddenly very touchy-feely, is that what happened?”  
  
“Uh, yeah? Can I ask what you’re thinking? ‘Cause you seem to be thinking something.”  
  
“Well, I have a hypothesis… I’d be the first to admit that it does seem far fetched, and it does still leave a few questions up in the air, but it would definitely explain at least most of the behavior…” Dr. Takemi trailed off, still staring at the both of them with that weird expression. When she didn’t continue, Ryuji spoke up.  
  
“I’m gonna level with you here, lady, I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about. If you were hoping I’d be able to follow along I will tell you right now that that’s not happening, so you’re gonna have to just say it,” he said. He’d always kinda hated it when people did that. Like, if they wanted him to figure something out then step one was to be straightforward with it. All that vague stuff just flew completely over his head. Dr. Takemi eyed him over for a second.  
  
“Alright kid, how much would you say you know about mer?”  
  
“Absolutely dick.”  
  
“Sorry, what?”  
  
Ryuji flushed. “It’s uh, it’s another way of saying ‘nothing’. Like, if you say you know ‘dick all’ that means you know nothing…”  
  
“Ah, okay,” Dr. Takemi responded, smirking a little. “Well, do you know what a pod is?”  
  
Ryuji thought. He was pretty sure he’d heard that term come up in some of those documentaries from this morning.  
  
“Isn’t that what they call a group of mer? Kinda like how a bunch of deer are a herd, a bunch of mer are a pod, right?” He asked.  
  
“Yes and no. A pod is a group of mer, yes, usually no more than ten and no less than four, but it’s a bit more complicated than just that,” Dr. Takemi began. Oh yay, complicated-- his favorite word. “Pods are sort of like a family, though not technically related. They grow up together, hunt together, sleep together, travel together, play together, fight together, etc. They’re incredibly close knit.”  
  
“So like, a squad?”  
  
“A what now?’  
  
“You know, a squad. Like, a group of friends that’s kinda like, ride or die for each other. Really good friends. Like these guys,” he said, gesturing to his friends with the hand that wasn’t in Akira’s hair, “we’re a squad. Is it like that?”  
  
“I suppose you could think of it that way. A little more… synchronized, though. Pods tend to function as a unit.”  
  
“Wait, so like a hive mind?”  
  
“No, not quite at that level. Each mer is still an individual, but we have found evidence of something similar to telepathy within pods-”  
  
“Telepathy?!?! They can fucking read minds?!?!” Ryuji interrupted. What kind of sci-fi fuckery was this?  
  
“No, they can’t read minds,” Dr. Takemi replied, her tone somewhat condescending. “This isn’t a comic book.”  
  
“But you said ‘telepathy’! Telepathy is mind reading!” Ryuji argued. She responded as though it were a completely ridiculous question but that was what she’d freaking said!  
  
“Perhaps ‘telepathy’ was not the correct word. What I meant by ‘telepathy’ in this case was something more along the lines of ‘heightened nonverbal communication’, not ‘mind-reading’. It actually appears to be more of an advanced form of empathy, though we still have no idea how it works.”  
  
“What does that mean?”  
  
“It essentially means that they’re very in tune with each other’s emotions, to the point where they actually seem to share a collective emotional consciousness. They still think and feel individually, but they influence each other, like several parts of the same whole,” Dr. Takemi explained.  
  
“That’s super weird. I mean, it’s also really cool, but… weird. So they like, feel each other’s feelings?” Ryuji asked, trying to imagine how that would possibly work.  
  
“Basically, yes.”  
  
“Dude. Wait, what does this have to do with Akira again?”  
  
“It doesn’t. I got off track. Anyway, as I was saying-- pods.”  
  
“Yup, okay, I think I’ve got the gist. What about them?”  
  
“Well, my theory --and please do keep in mind that this is just a theory-- is that Akira may have begun to consider you a member of his pod,” Dr. Takemi stated. Ryuji blinked.  
  
“What the fuck? How does that even happen?” He asked. Not that he was complaining, but he was pretty clearly human, and he knew Akira knew that.  
  
“My best guess would be that you confused him.”  
  
“How?”  
  
“By behaving like a member of his pod. You saw he was upset and went out of your way to help him. It’s likely he may have interpreted that as pod behavior.”  
  
“Wait, that’s it? Because I didn’t exactly do a whole lot,” Ryuji said.  
  
“You helped him, didn’t you?” Dr. Takemi countered.  
  
“I mean, I guess, but like, come on! Do mer just not help each other or something?” He’d wondered that same thing earlier, when Akira had seemed confused about the idea of them trying to heal him.  
  
“If they aren’t members of the same pod, then no,” Dr. Takemi replied. Ryuji made a face.  
  
“Well that sucks,” he said. “Seriously, I didn’t even do that much! What kind of an asshole would I have had to be to see someone as stressed out as Akira was and freaking ignore him just ‘cause I didn’t know him that well? A huge one, that’s what!”  
  
Dr. Takemi just shrugged. “No one ever accused the world of being fair, Tiger Shark. That’s why it needs people like you who bother to try anyway.” Ryuji stared at her, a bit taken aback by the sudden sincerity.  
  
“What?” He asked.  
  
“You’re a good kid, Tiger Shark, at least from what I’ve seen. I’m not surprised he likes you,” Dr. Takemi replied, nodding slightly at the still sleeping Akira, a small smile on her face. Ryuji’s cheeks grew warm. He wasn’t really sure what to do with that.  
  
“Uh, thanks,” he mumbled, “you seem pretty cool too.” A sort of awkward silence followed, and it was in that silence that Ryuji eventually managed to circle back to a question that had been nagging him.  
  
"What about his actual pod?" Ryuji asked. "Why would he consider me a part of his 'pod' if he already has one?"  
  
Dr. Takemi stared at him, somber. "That's the question, isn't it?"  
  
The tense atmosphere of the moment was shattered right alongside the quiet as the doors whooshed open and Futaba marched in, loudly announcing;  
  
“I have returned! What did I miss?” Her arms were held out wide in a sort of triumphant pose, as if she’d just come back from a successful flight to mars rather than a trip to her house and back again. At the sound of her shouting Akira stirred, head turning to face her as grey eyes squinted blearily against the room’s bright lights.  
  
“Now look what you’ve done,” Ryuji said, gesturing towards the groggy mer.  
  
“Oh shit, was he asleep?” Futaba asked.  
  
“He _was _asleep, and then you barged in here and woke him up, you traitor.” Seriously, could they just let the poor dude rest already?  
  
“Aw shit, sorry Akira!” Futaba called up sheepishly. Her phone was held out in her hand, screen forward as if she were trying to take a selfie, though that didn’t seem to be the case. More likely she was filming, and just too lazy to flip the camera.  
  
“Hhhnnmmm,” Akira grumbled, burrowing his face back into the juncture between Ryuji’s neck and shoulder, evidently set on going back to sleep. Ryuji knew that mood very well.  
  
“Oh my god, please tell me you saw that,” Futaba said to… her phone? Why would she be trying video commentary? They were never going to be allowed to show this shit to anyone else, never mind post it anywhere.  
  
“Well, I’ll be taking my leave now. Sojiro, would you mind coming with me? There are a few things we ought to run over,” Dr. Takemi said, pushing herself up off the platform and descending the stairs to the main floor.  
  
“Sure thing,” Sojiro replied, making it all the way to the door before turning around and looking over them all. “No funny business, got it? You’ve been fine so far, so let’s try and keep it that way.”  
  
“Sure thing, Mr. Sakura!” Ann chirped, and Makoto nodded beside her.  
  
Mr. Sakura took one final glance around the room, his eyes lingering on Akira in particular, before shaking his head slightly and muttering something that sounded an awful lot like “I cannot believe…”, then turning and following Dr. Takemi out.  
  
The moment the doors slid shut behind them Futaba whipped around from where she’d been watching her dad leave to face the rest of them.  
  
“Alright seriously, what’d I miss? Dr. Takemi was here so I’m sure something must’ve happened. Spill,” she said, still holding her phone up in a way that made it pretty obvious she was recording.  
  
“Not that much. I just helped Dr. Takemi with checking for like, infection and injuries and stuff. Didn’t find anything, thank god,” Ryuji replied.  
  
“Oh come on,” Futaba said, “I know there has to have been more than that!”  
  
“Ryuji almost groped Akira,” Yusuke piped in out of nowhere, not even bothering to look up from what had to have been sketch #28 at this point.  
  
“Dude!” Ryuji protested at the same time as Futaba shrieked “What?!”, causing Akira’s ear fins to twitch as he grumbled, clearly displeased with all of the noise. Yusuke was sometimes about the least helpful person on the planet.  
  
“You touched the fish dick?!” Futaba squealed, the grin on her face nothing short of pure malevolent glee.  
  
“No I did not touch the fish dick! I very specifically _avoided _touching the fish dick, because I wasn’t about to be a total creep!” Ryuji hissed.  
  
“Ah, such a gentleman,” Futaba teased. “Thank you, Inari.”  
  
“Yeah, thanks a lot, Inari,” Ryuji repeated, scowling down at Yusuke.  
  
“She asked,” Yusuke replied, still without even looking up from his sketch pad.  
  
“That doesn’t mean you tell her… that! Especially not worded like that!” Ryuji argued.  
  
“Don’t listen to him, Inari, you did great!” Futaba said.  
  
“I wasn’t exactly planning on listening to either of you,” Yusuke said.  
  
“Rude. So what else happened, now that I know Ryuji was lying?” Futaba asked.  
  
“Oh would you-” Ryuji began, only to be interrupted by Ann, saying;  
  
“Ryuji tickled Akira and Akira booped him,”  
  
“Holy shit what!?” Futaba shrieked.  
  
“ _Hhhhnnnnmmmm _,” Akira complained, trying to nuzzle further into Ryuji’s shoulder, as if hoping that would somehow muffle the sounds around him.  
  
“Would you mind keeping it down? My man’s tryina sleep!” Ryuji hissed.  
  
“Oh, right, sorry. Anyway- what?!” Futaba repeated, thankfully quieter this time.  
  
“Yeah, apparently Akira’s back-fin is ticklish, and Ryuji tickled him, and Akira didn’t like it, so he booped him. You know, like, boop!” Ann said, demonstrating by tapping her index finger against an unsuspecting Makoto’s nose. Makoto blushed, which made Ann giggle, which made Ryuji roll his eyes. Sure, and they teased him about being obvious.  
  
“Fuck, please tell me you got that on camera,” Futaba begged.  
  
“I wish. It happened like, two minutes after I finally put my camera away,” Ann grumbled.  
  
“Noooooooo!!!!” Futaba groaned.  
  
“Don’t worry, I’m sure something else interesting will happen that we’ll be able to catch on film!” A voice chirped. Was that Haru? That sounded like Haru.  
  
“Futaba, are you on a call right now?” Makoto asked, beating Ryuji to the punch.  
  
“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m facetiming Haru. I felt bad that she couldn’t be here so I figured I’d at least try to let her in on some of it. I’ve been sending her pictures and stuff this whole time, too. Ryuji, I think you might have some competition,” Futaba teased.  
  
“What?” Ryuji asked.  
  
“Oh no no no, I’m not interested in him, no need to worry,” Haru said, giggling. Ryuji was going to try and pretend that he didn’t feel a sense of relief upon hearing that. He didn’t think he could compete with Haru. “I was simply expressing that I find him adorable. Besides, I’ve already got eyes for someone else.”  
  
“Really, who?” Futaba demanded.  
  
“I’m not telling~” Haru sang.  
  
“Aw come on, at least give me a hint-”  
  
“Futaba, not to interrupt, but don’t you feel that this violates our earlier agreement? I also feel bad about Haru being left out, and I too wish she could be here, but didn’t we all promise Ann that we wouldn’t take or send pictures?” Makoto interjected.  
  
“Ooooooooohhhhh shit,” Futaba replied guiltily.  
  
“Oh right…” Ann said, “I did have that rule, didn’t I? Uh… I’m gonna be honest; I kinda forgot about that too, ‘cause I’ve been taking like, a whole lot of pictures and videos this entire time. I, uh, I think so long as nothing gets, like, posted anywhere, or sent to anyone outside of this group, we should be fine?”  
  
“Okay well I didn’t post anything,” Futaba said.  
  
“Good. Yeah, definitely don’t post this stuff. I think you’re good though, ‘cause like, Haru saw him yesterday, and we know Haru’s not going to talk about it either. Hey Haru, are you gonna talk about it?” Ann asked.  
  
“Of course not!” Haru replied.  
  
“Alright then yeah we’re probably good,” Ann concluded. “Nice catch there though, Makoto, I totally forgot.”  
  
“I just wouldn’t want you to lose your job, that’s all. You seem to really like it here,” Makoto responded.  
  
“Hey, Ryuji,” Futaba called up, “do you think you could get him to purr again?”  
  
“Futaba he’s trying to sleep!” Ryuji protested. “Besides, he’s not a dog! He doesn’t like, do tricks on command!”  
  
“Come on! It’s for Haru!” Futaba whined.  
  
“I won’t ask you to do anything you’re not comfortable with,” Haru chimed in.  
  
“Do it anyway though!” Futaba added. “Haru said she wanted to see it!”  
  
“Yes, but I could always just wait until a day in which I am able to actually be there.”  
  
“Aw but who knows if this’ll happen again?” Futaba complained. “Come on, Ryuji, pleeease? You probably won’t even have to wake him up! Morgana purrs while he sleeps all the time!”  
  
Ryuji glared at her, but considered it. The purring _was _cute; he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want more of it. And it wasn’t like it bothered Akira, either- quite the opposite. Really, there probably wasn’t any harm in at least trying…  
  
Wordlessly, he brushed his hands up through Akira’s hair, soft even despite the drying saltwater. It only took a few seconds for the purring to start up, the sensation even more noticeable now that Akira’s entire body was curled around him. Akira did still seem to be asleep, which was good, and frankly Ryuji was starting to consider the idea as well. He just felt… really tired all of a sudden. He scooted back a little so that he was leaning up against the guardrail of the platform, a position that, while better than sitting up, still probably shouldn’t have felt as comfortable as it did. Everything was actually a lot more comfortable than it probably should have been. He chalked it up to not sleeping the night before. Being super tired was sort of like being super hungry- anything went.  
  
“Aw yeah, there he goes. Haru, can you hear that?” Futaba asked. She sounded kinda far away.  
  
“Not really? Sorry,” Haru replied.  
  
“Shit. Hmm…. I’m gonna try getting closer,” Futaba said.  
  
“Um, Futaba, are you sure that’s the best idea?” Makoto asked nervously.  
  
“Well it’s probably not the _best _idea. I’m pretty sure that title belongs to cookie dough ice cream,” Futaba joked.  
  
“You know that’s not what I meant,” Makoto chided.  
  
“I’ll be fiiiine,” Futaba whined, “I was up there before and nothing happened!”  
  
“Yes, but-”  
  
“You worry too much! I’m not gonna like, slap him or anything! I’m just gonna go sit up at the top of the platform so Haru can get a better look, that’s all!”  
  
Without allowing time for further protest, Futaba climbed up the stairs. Ryuji lazily watched her approach as she sat down next to him, holding her phone out towards him and Akira.  
  
“There, is that better?” She asked, thankfully having the sense to whisper.  
  
“Yes, now I can hear it, thank you Futaba,” Haru whispered back. “Oh, he is so _cute _!”  
  
Ryuji, meanwhile, was zonked the fuck out. He wasn’t asleep, exactly, but he was approaching that point with considerable velocity. It was getting really hard to keep his eyes open. Akira’s purring reverberated through his ribcage to his entire body, the sensation incredibly relaxing. Ryuji felt kind of like he was floating. Good god what was this? Was this seriously just the after-effect of having not slept last night? If so, he might need to not sleep more often, ‘cause this was incredible. He felt more chill in that moment than he had felt in his entire life.  
  
“Holy shit, Ryuji, are you sleeping?” Futaba whispered.  
  
“Mmm… thinkin ‘bout it…” Ryuji mumbled, not even bothering to open his eyes.  
  
“Dude, you can’t just fall asleep up here!” She hissed, “Ann, back me up here! There’s no way that’s a good idea, right?”  
  
“Yeah, Ryuji, you really shouldn’t lean on that railing. It’s not exactly, uh, stable,” Ann said.  
  
“Whatever…” Ryuji murmured. He honestly hadn’t processed anything that had just been said.  
  
“No, seriously, don’t put your weight on that thing, it isn’t built for that,” Ann continued.  
  
“Mmmmffff.”  
  
“Ryuji?”  
  
“Mmmrrrr.”  
  
“ _Ryuji! _”  
  
Distantly, he knew that Ann was still trying to get his attention, probably about something important, but he was too out of it to care.  
  
And then the fucking railing broke.______________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am... very tired. Over the last few days my body has been on a quest to become nocturnal, and it's really been fucking with me.


	13. Impromptu Scuba

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Impromptu scuba: It's like scuba, but without any of the gear, and also you didn't sign up to do it or know that it was going to happen. 
> 
> Side note: If you're going to attempt CPR, it's generally recommended that you do have at least _some _idea of what the fuck you're doing.__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the cliffhanger (not really), hopefully this lives up to whatever expectations that left you with. Probably not, but hopefully. 
> 
> Warnings for near drowning, depression, and excessive use of the word 'fuck'.
> 
> ...No seriously, the word 'fuck' (and variations thereof) is said, in this chapter alone (not counting author's notes or summary), 38 times. So maybe not actually that much, but still.

Akira knew he had made this observation before, but he was going to make it again; humans talked a lot. Like, a _lot _. Sure, he’d picked up on this from his days spent hiding under piers or behind the natural rock formations that humans rarely approached, but at least they’d been doing something at the time. He’d mostly chalked up their excessive communication as being relevant to whatever tasks they were attempting to complete, but now he was beginning to get the impression that they were just… like that. Exhibit A: Ryuji and Takmi had just been sitting here for the last several minutes doing nothing but talking.__  
  
He supposed he didn’t mind it. Again, he kinda liked listening to Ryuji talk, even when he had no idea what was being said. It was just… strange. Mer talked, yes, but nowhere near this much. They didn’t really need to, anyway, as synchronization meant that podmates had a pretty good sense of how they were all feeling. Talking among podmates was typically reserved for short observations or jokes, and while there certainly was a lot more verbal communication involved in interaction between pods, (or in his case, interaction between a pod, singular, and him), it was mostly just questions and answers, and even that didn’t go on for long. Contrary to his prior beliefs, humans did actually seem to have pods, which then begged the question as to why it was they felt the need to talk so much. Takmi and Ryuji weren’t members of the same pod, so that could explain it, but even then this had been going on for a while.  
  
Fuck it- humans were just weird. Akira was way too tired to keep analyzing every little innocuous oddity. Now was the time for napping, not trying to puzzle through the fucking monstrosity that was human communication.  
  
Akira exhaled deeply, burying his face into Ryuji and shutting his eyes. He went under almost immediately, and got maybe a few minutes of sleep in before, once again, something tried to wake him up. This time though, he was far enough out of it that it was only about half successful.  
  
Someone was being loud over by the door area. The simple act of moving his head to look over there felt like a whole lot of work, and when he finally managed to drag his eyes open the room was both way too bright and very blurry. Akira squinted. Nope, still blurry as shit. He heard someone say his name. Was that Baba? Sounded liked Baba. In response he just groaned and tucked his face back into Ryuji. Too fucking bright. Why did they keep it so bright in here?  
  
More talking. Loud noise. Also sounded like Baba. Why was she so loud? They could hear each other just fine.  
  
Even more talking. Another loud noise, worse than before, also from probably Baba. He groaned again, hoping that’d communicate his message as he fruitlessly tried to mash his face even further into Ryuji’s shoulder, his fatigue-fried brain arguing that because laying on Ryuji blocked out the light it could also maybe block out the sound somehow. It didn’t work, obviously, but he was pretty sure he heard Ryuji say something to Baba, and she was less loud after that, so maybe in a way it sort of worked and okay goodnight.  
  
The humans were still chattering amongst themselves, the noise actually providing quite a nice ambience as he drifted away. He felt hands in his hair and he purred, delighted at the sensation, shifting slightly in an attempt to try and press himself even closer. Hhhnnnnnmm yes. Fantastic. Honestly, he could get used to this. Being both very comfortable and very tired, Akira fell asleep once again in only a matter of seconds.  
  
………  
  
…………..  
  
……………… _What the fuck?!? ___  
  
Akira suddenly found himself very much awake, very much disoriented, and very much panicking. What the hell was happening? Where was he? Why was he awake? Where was Ryuji? He was pretty sure he was underwater again- it certainly felt like it. When did he get back in the water? Was this still the tank? He couldn’t see any sand or anything so probably.  
  
Something slammed into his side hard, right at his gills and Akira shrieked, reflexively uncoiling his tail and darting in the opposite direction. _Shit _that had hurt. What even was that? Wincing, he looked up, only to see Ryuji thrashing around in front of his, churning up the water in a frenzy of flailing limbs. Had Ryuji hit him? Sure seemed like it. Akira tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his chest at that realization. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t known it would happen at some point- he’d been fully prepared for Ryuji’s inevitable loss of patience- but it still hurt, nonetheless.__  
  
More importantly though; why was Ryuji here? Akira was very sure they were in the tank at this point, and while he understood himself being in the tank he didn’t get why Ryuji would be. After all, the last time he checked, humans weren’t capable of breathing underwa-- _fuck _.__  
  
The sense of terror that had been inexplicably present in the back of Akira’s mind suddenly flooded his senses. He darted forward, not even bothering to consider how potentially frightening the sight of that may be. Ryuji was probably in some serious trouble, Spirits condemn it, he didn’t have time for appearances.  
  
Speaking of Ryuji, he’d mostly stopped moving, which was a bad fucking sign. Akira wrapped his arms around the boy’s torso, a silent apology flitting through his brain in the process, (he knew he was supposed to back off but he needed to help), and swam upwards, breaking the surface in roughly a second. He pushed Ryuji onto the platform first before pulling himself up alongside him and hovering, anxiously, over the human’s body. He wasn’t moving. Distantly, Akira could hear Ryuji’s podmates shouting, the one called Makoto even beginning to rush towards them but he didn’t much care because Ryuji. Wasn’t. Moving.  
  
Was he even breathing? Oh Great Spirits please let him still be breathing. Akira placed his head to Ryuji’s torso, trying to feel for any signs of breath. Nothing. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck no! Not like this! Why couldn’t he just have something nice for once? No no no come on, no reason to panic, panic makes you stupid. He had to think. Think, what did he know? He’d seen humans have similar issues before; more than once he’d been hiding near the docks and observed a human go under the water and have to be dragged out by other humans, and most of the time, they’d started moving again. How had they started moving again? The other humans had done something… Fuck it, he had to try.  
  
Once again mentally apologizing for the invasion of boundaries, Akira put his face on Ryuji’s so that their mouths touched. He was pretty sure that’s what he’d seen the humans do. Was this supposed to be doing something? Because nothing appeared to be happening. Beginning to grow frantic, he tried the other thing he’d seen and hit Ryuji in the torso. He didn’t want to hurt him, but he’d seen humans do something like this to each other when one of them had issues in the water and it had seemed to get them moving again so…. He repeated the process, once again putting his face up against Ryuji’s before hitting him in the torso, a little harder this time.  
  
The third time their faces met he though he felt Ryuji twitch a little. Was it working? He punched Ryuji in the torso again, even harder than the last time, and that seemed to be the magic hit because Ryuji’s body jolted under the impact and he groaned, curling in on himself and coughing. Akira scooted back promptly, trying his best to give the guy space even as every bone in his body screamed at him to press up close and try his best to make it better. However loud his bones may have been, the throbbing ache in his side was even louder, reminding him that Ryuji wanted him to back off and he planned on respecting that, no matter how much he didn’t want to.  
  
Ryuji hacked violently, expelling water from his mouth in a sudden surge and Akira felt himself straining against the instinct to move closer. Boundaries, dammit. By now Makoto was all the way up the stairs and had dropped down next to Ryuji, her hand against his back as she spoke to him with words too fast for Akira to comprehend. Good, one of his podmates was checking up on him. He tried to ignore the way that made him feel.  
  
Ryuji’s other podmates, Ann in particular, were calling out to him, likely trying to find out whether or not he was okay. Even Yusuke, who had said barely anything this entire time, was in on the shouting. Well, that was a pod for you; nothing spurs them into action like one of their own getting hurt.  
  
Akira began tapping his tailfin lightly against the ground, eyes fixed firmly on the floor below him as he swallowed down the unwelcome lump behind his gills. Great Spirits, would he just get over himself already? Ryuji had nearly died and he was over here throwing a pity party for himself just because he was lonely. He'd always been lonely, so why was he so upset by this? Why was it that the rejection was so much harder this time? Why was it seeing podmates take care of each other made him feel so fucking alone all of a sudden? Why did this one _hurt? _This wasn’t even about him, dammit.__  
  
This _wasn’t _about him.__  
  
\---------------------------------------  
  
Ryuji had to say that as far as rude awakenings went, this one took the cake. The infamous ‘rat up the pants’ incident was a close second, but this one was still definitely, definitely the worst.  
  
First off was the actual falling part- backwards, nonetheless- which sucked in its own right. The sudden feeling of his stomach trying to climb up out of his throat was unpleasant enough, and when combined with the sensation of backwards belly-flopping (back-flopping?) into not-exactly-warm water it made for a truly jarring experience. But the worst part of all was, without a doubt, the whole ‘actually being underwater’ part.  
  
He had been disoriented enough to not even realize he was underwater at first, which resulted in him taking a big breath in... and promptly losing his shit once he felt the water rush in towards his lungs. He’d begun flailing in a mad panic, only managing to intake even more water to the point where he was starting to feel kinda dizzy. For some reason, he felt something like sadness course through him, though he couldn’t imagine why. The salt stung his wide open eyes, vision blurry- and getting blurrier- as he saw a flash of silver and red dart towards him.  
  
Shit went kinda dark after that, until a sudden burst of pain at his sternum started pulling him back into the waking world. Said process was greatly accelerated by the sensation of someone else’s lips against his own. Someone else’s soft, slightly cold, and very definitely wet lips. Holy fucking fuck did Akira just kis- _ow what the shit?! ___  
  
Akira’s fist slammed into his chest without warning and Ryuji jerked at the blow, limbs naturally curling in on themselves in an attempt to defend his torso from the completely random attack that Akira had apparently just decided to launch on that particular area of his body. At the same time, he began to cough, his lungs trying very hard to expel all of the water his dumb ass had inhaled during his unplanned dive. He thought he saw Akira back away from him in the corner of his eye, but was a little too busy hacking his internal organs out to pay attention to that detail.  
  
A hand was against his back, helping to guide him up into a sitting position. Makoto. So she’d managed to get up here at some point, huh? Apparently Akira didn’t have any issues with her, either. At least, not enough issues to warrant him trying to scare her off like he had with Dr. Takemi.  
  
“Ryuji, are you alright? Can you breathe?” Makoto asked, her tone authoritative in the way it got once her position as the group mother had been activated.  
  
“Yeah ‘m fine, just, gimme a fuckin second,” Ryuji mumbled in between coughs. From the ground below, the rest of his friends seemed just as concerned.  
  
“Holy fuck man, you good?” Futaba called.  
  
“Oh my god! Ohhhh my god! Oh my fucking god, Ryuji, are you okay? Fuck! I told you not to lean on that goddamn guardrail you fucking asshole!” Ann cried, her voice cracking with distress.  
  
“Were you unconscious just now?” Yusuke asked, and woah- he actually sounded worried. That was honestly a little unsettling.  
  
The three of them continued to shout up at him, their voices overlapping in an anxious chorus that Ryuji frankly couldn’t hear over the sound of his own coughing. Shit, that hurt. And Akira punching him in the chest really hadn’t helped with that. And hey, while on the topic of Akira… what the fuck had just happened?  
  
He was still trying to get through a mental recap of the last two minutes or so when he was once again struck by an inexplicable sense of sadness. The feeling was even stronger this time, bordering almost on despair, and it wasn’t leaving. A lump began to constrict in his throat and a few tears poked at his eyes. God, what was this? It was fucking terrible!  
  
“Ryuji, are you… crying?” Makoto asked, concern heavy in her voice.  
  
“A-apparently?” He choked out.  
  
“Why?”  
  
“I-I don’t know?!” He was unable to prevent a couple tears from slipping down his cheeks. Fuck, this was awful! Ryuji had always had a bit of a thing about crying in front of other people (he had a strong suspicion that had originated from his father), so the humiliation of it combined with the actual suffocating sense of misery was enough to make him want to claw all of his flesh off.  
  
Akira made a noise from beside him, and not a happy one at that. When Ryuji turned to look at him the guy was clearly distressed, his entire body tense and his eyes locked on Ryuji with a sort of desperate look on his face. When their eyes met, he made the noise again.  
  
Shit, how had he forgotten? Akira had been wrapped around him when he fell, meaning he definitely also got the impromptu scuba experience. Sure, he could actually, you know, breathe in that situation, but it still must’ve sucked. At least Ryuji had had some idea of what was going on; Akira had probably been completely fucking blindsided. Now that he thought back on it, he was pretty sure that Akira had been the one to drag him up out of the tank in the first place. Nothing else really made sense, no one else was soaking wet, and he was sure he’d seen something silver moving towards him before he’d up and passed out or whatever the hell happened. Him being too dumb to listen to Ann had resulted in him dunking both himself and Akira into the tank, and when Akira had gone ahead and saved his ass, what did he do? Sit there crying for some reason and not even say ‘thank you’.  
  
“Hey, Akira,” Ryuji said, pausing for a second to cough again, “thanks.”  
  
“Ry-u-ji o-kay?” Akira asked. He looked upset. Like, really upset. Shit.  
  
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m fi-” Ryuji started to answer before heaving suddenly, his entire body shuddering as he lurched forward into a violent coughing fit. He heard Akira make another distressed noise and felt a cold hand join Makoto’s on his back. An odd sort of chirping noise filled his ears, (likely from Akira), as he continued to hack his lungs out. Notably, the unexplainable depression that’d been crushing him a few moments earlier was gone (thank god). Instead, he felt a sort of calm wash over him, certainly strange given the situation, but as far as inexplicable emotions went, he found he greatly preferred this one. His coughing gradually began to subside, but only after he spit out what felt like a considerable amount of water. Ew.  
  
“Ugh, sorry about that,” he grumbled. “Pretty sure I snorked about half that goddamn tank up my nose. Fucking terrible.”  
  
“I believe that may be an exaggeration,” Makoto said. She sounded relieved though. If he was able to be making jokes, he was probably fine.  
  
“I dunno, man,” Ryuji responded, “sure feels like it. Every time I move my head I feel the fucking tides in my sinuses.” He snorted a couple times, trying to expel the water from within his nose, but made infuriatingly little progress. “I’m all good, guys. Not dead or anything,” he called down.  
  
“What the hell was that!?” Futaba shouted. “You just flailed around like you were being exorcised or some shit! Do you even know how to swim!?” Ryuji grimaced.  
  
“Uh… technically no. No I don’t,” he responded.  
  
“Wait, what?” Makoto asked, her tone turned harsh. Yup, saw that one coming.  
  
“I don’t know how to swim,” Ryuji repeated.  
  
“Are you kidding me!?” Ann shrieked. “That tank is over 20 feet deep, you jackass! I wouldn’t have let you go up there if I knew you didn’t know how to not drown if you fell in, jesus christ! What if Akira hadn’t been there to save your dumb ass, huh? What then, Ryuji?”  
  
Speaking of Akira… Ryuji turned to look at him, tuning out the sound of Ann’s continued ranting. He wasn’t sure when exactly Akira had backed away, since he’d definitely been right up on him only a moment ago, but Akira had returned to his previous position a few feet away. He wasn’t looking at Ryuji, instead staring at the ground as if watching the splash of the water that dripped from his hair into the growing puddles beneath. His tailfin was lightly tapping the surface of the platform every so often, like it had when they’d been waiting for Dr. Takemi to arrive. He still looked upset about something.  
  
“-and then I’d have to look your mother in the eyes and tell her that her son was dead because he’d gone ahead and broken a guardrail and fallen into a giant tank and then drowned. And then I’d have to give a speech at your funeral all like, ‘yeah, he fucking died because I had assumed he could swim but then was proven wrong after he refused to listen to me and tried to sleep on a weak railing that broke and then he fell in and drowned like a dumbass’, which would be terrible. And then I’d be known around school as that kid who let her best friend drown. And I also would have definitely been fired from here for like, negligence or something, I dunno. And then I wouldn’t be able to get into any colleges because I didn’t have this for my resume and my grades are kinda shitty and also they’d know about the whole ‘you drowning on my watch’ incident because rumors spread fast. And then I would end up dying poor and alone because without college I couldn’t get a good job and there’s no fucking way I’m just going to marry someone for money or whatever because that shit does not appeal to me, so I’m gonna end up, like, dying on the streets thinking back to the moment my life changed for the worst all because I let your dumb ass go climbing up to the top of a super deep tank without even knowing how to swim! You can’t do that to me, Ryuji!” Ann shouted, her cheeks red as she stood there, panting, her polished nails digging into the skin of her palms. Ryuji blinked. The whole room had gone quiet, all of them just staring at Ann with something like concerned horror on their faces. Even Akira was looking at her kinda funny.  
  
“Uh… sorry?” Ryuji tried. He wasn’t even sure where to begin with… all of that.  
  
“Ann, while I understand and agree with your general sentiment, I will say that you may have been catastrophizing a bit there,” Makoto said.  
  
“I mean, maybe, but so what!? The point is that he could have like, died, or something if Akira hadn’t been here to pull him up out of the water, and I would’ve felt like it was my fault, even though it would’ve been his for not listening to me!” Ann argued. She seemed really upset about this, enough so that Ryuji was honestly starting to feel kinda bad about it.  
  
“But he was here, and I didn’t die,” he stated.  
  
“But you could have!”  
  
“But I didn’t.”  
  
“That’s not the- ugh!” Ann huffed, stomping one of her feet in frustration before speaking again, her voice much softer this time. “You’re my friend, Ryuji, and I care about you. I know I may not always act like it, but I do, and you just… you scared me. You really scared me.” Oh shit, was she crying? Fuuuuck. Ryuji was suddenly very, very uncomfortable. He hated it when people he cared about cried- he never had any idea what to do, and he didn’t like feeling useless. Makoto, seemingly comfortable with the fact that he wasn’t about to just up and croak, quickly got to her feet and went to go try and comfort Ann.  
  
“Yeah, well, I’m not dead, so…” Ryuji said, forcing a laugh. Part of him almost wished she’d go back to yelling. He knew how to deal with people being mad at him, but people being concerned for him- crying for him, even? He didn’t know what to do with that.  
  
“Dea-d?” came a soft voice from his right. He looked up to see Akira staring at him with a look of absolute horror. So he knew that word, huh? Shit.  
  
“No Akira, I’m not dead, see?” Ryuji said, gesturing to himself. “I’m fine!” Akira still looked worried. Not knowing what else to do, Ryuji reached over, grabbed one of Akira’s hands, and pressed it up against his chest, right over his heart. Akira’s eyes went huge and he stumbled a bit, though that was likely due to the fact that he’d been holding himself upright on his arms, so having one of them moved would of course throw off his balance. It took Ryuji a second to process his own actions, and once he did, he felt his face grow hot. Did he seriously just… “Uh, th-there! See? I’m okay!”  
  
Akira was silent, as was the rest of the room, though Ryuji was pretty certain he’d heard Futaba make a strangled sort of choking noise when he’d first put Akira’s hand to his chest. His soaked t-shirt hung heavy, cold against his skin thanks to the building’s powerful air conditioning, and though the fabric was plenty thick he swore he could feel Akira’s hand as closely as if it were touching bare flesh. If he’d had any concerns about his heartbeat perhaps being too faint for Akira to pick up on, they were completely invalidated by how clearly he could feel his heart jackhammering against his ribcage.  
  
Akira’s head cocked slightly to the side, grey eyes fixed on Ryuji’s torso with the sort of intensity that was almost tangible. Slowly, he traced his hand away from Ryuji’s heart and onto his side, feeling curiously along his ribs. Ryuji felt himself shudder, and he knew it wasn’t from the cold. Akira’s brows furrowed after a moment.  
  
“G-lls?” Akira asked, looking at Ryuji with obvious worry. What? Oh wait, was that what he had been looking for?  
  
“No, humans don’t have gills,” Ryuji responded, trying very hard to keep his voice from shaking. He imagined his face probably about the same color as Akira’s fins by now. Fuck, why was he being so weird about this? He’d basically been doing the same thing to Akira only a few minutes ago. All Akira was doing was checking to see if he was alright, exactly the same as he had been, so why the hell was his stomach acting as though he’d just ridden the Backdrop at USJ?  
  
“No g-lls?” Akira asked, his expression both concerned and confused. “How…” he trailed off for a second, looking frustrated before taking a few exaggerated breaths, and repeating; “How?”  
  
“How do we breathe?” Ryuji asked, trying to get clarification.  
  
“Brrr-ee-the?” Akira asked, before repeating the exaggerated breaths and asking again, “brrr-ee-the?”  
  
“Yes, that’s breathing. Uh, we…” shit, how the hell was he supposed to explain this in a way that made sense? He eventually just settled for tapping at his face, gesturing to his nose and mouth and saying, “With these. These are kind of like our gills, I guess.”  
  
Akira’s hand, which until then had remained resting on Ryuji’s side in a way that was rather distracting, moved up to his face, where it then covered his nose and mouth, though luckily still loosely enough for him to not suffocate.  
  
“Brrr-ee-the?” Akira asked again.  
  
“Uh, yup. That’s how we breathe,” Ryuji confirmed, he voice somewhat muffled on account of, you know, the hand on his face.  
  
Akira still looked a little confused, but nodded, placing his hand back on the ground beneath to hold himself up. He seemed to be considering something for a moment, his tailfin tapping a few times before his eyes moved back up to look at Ryuji.  
  
“Ry-u-ji isss o-kay?” He asked, and even with the fact that his speech remained noticeably different from a human’s, Ryuji could still detect the genuine concern behind Akira’s words. And even if he couldn’t have picked up on it that way, Akira’s eyes said it a whole lot more clearly than his voice could. Ryuji felt a surge of emotion. Fuck, he was cute.  
  
“Yeah, Akira, I’m okay,” he reassured, smiling slightly at him. Akira nodded again, ducking his face to look back down at his hands, but Ryuji could have sworn he saw a hint of a smile there too.  
  
\---------------------------------------------------  
  
Akira had been right in the middle of trying to bludgeon his unwelcome emotions into submission when he heard Ryuji’s voice crack in a way that he recognized from other humans as a bad sign. When he’d looked up, he’d seen that Makoto had looked especially worried and that there was water coming from Ryuji’s eyes. His heart had dropped. He’d seen humans’ eyes rain before, but only when they were especially hurt or upset.  
  
He felt himself jerk forward to try and comfort Ryuji, or at least see what was wrong with him, and it had taken every ounce of restraint in his body to stop himself from completing the motion. Ryuji. Needed. Space. Still, upon hearing the choked sound that Ryuji made after responding to whatever question it was Makoto had just asked him Akira was unable to prevent himself from whining slightly, nor was he able to prevent himself from doing it again once Ryuji locked eyes with him. He looked so upset, and every single one of Akira’s instincts screamed at him to _do something _about that, but he restrained himself.__  
  
‘He’s not your bonded, or your podmate,’ Akira reminded himself. ‘He was letting you cling to him like a particularly large barnacle earlier because he felt like it, but he doesn’t feel like it anymore. In the Spirits’ names, he allowed you to smother him for _far _longer than anyone else would have, the least you can fucking do is respect his desire for you to back off.’__  
  
Akira didn’t need to do anything. It wasn’t his place to do anything. Ryuji had podmates to take care of him- that’s what Makoto was doing up here in the first place.  
  
“Hey, Akira,” Ryuji said. Akira whipped his head up to look at him. Why was he talking to him? Was he angry about Akira invading his space a few seconds ago? Shit, he didn’t know how to explain that he’d been trying to help, and even if he did know the right words to say it it still wasn’t an excuse. He should’ve just let an actual podmate handle it and stayed out of the way. He waited for Ryuji to yell at him, or tell him to leave, or reiterate his desire to be left alone, but he didn’t hear any of those things. Instead, he heard; “Thanks.”  
  
‘Thanks’? Ryuji was thanking him? For what? Akira’s brow furrowed. “Ry-u-ji o-kay?” he asked. He knew it wasn’t really any of his business, but he had to at least ask.  
  
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m fi-” Ryuji began, but was quickly cut off, violently lurching forward as if he’d been struck, then shaking with the force of the fit that wracked his body. Akira yelped, and this time was unable to stop himself from darting forward and placing his hand on Ryuji’s back alongside Makoto’s, chirping anxiously in an attempt to help the only way he knew how. He’d seen other mer comfort their injured or otherwise distressed podmates by huddling up to them and chirping, and that had seemed to work for them, so of course he did his best to mimic it. In truth, it was more instinct than anything else, as he hadn’t even consciously thought to do it.  
  
This was dumb. This was a bad idea. Akira was pretty sure that he held the title of ‘World’s Pushiest Asshole’, but he couldn’t stop himself. If either Makoto or Ryuji snapped at him he completely deserved it. Honestly, maybe one of them should try doing that, since it was starting to seem as though he’d be physically incapable of getting the hint otherwise.  
  
They didn’t, though, instead beginning to talk to each other once Ryuji’s fit subsided, and Akira took that chance to force himself to back away, returning to his position a few feet away and staring fixedly down at his own hands. He was fine. Ryuji called down to his other podmates, answering the questions they shouted up at him, and Akira was _fine _.__  
  
Though he couldn’t figure out what exactly had triggered it, the one called Ann suddenly began shouting very fast for very long, Akira couldn’t help but stare at her. Though he had no chance in the sea of actually understanding whatever it was she was saying, he understood her tone and general body language to be very upset. He was pretty sure she was yelling at Ryuji, but wasn’t entirely sure why.  
  
Ryuji apologized, (though he sounded uncertain), and Makoto said something to Ann, likely trying to calm her down. When Ann responded, she still sounded upset, and this time, Akira heard his own name mentioned, which made him freeze. Had she actually been yelling at him? What for? He’d fucked up a lot- she’d really have to be more specific if she wanted him to understand what exactly it was he’d done that she was so mad about.  
  
She and Ryuji said a few words back and forth before she once again gave a much longer speech, though this one was a lot less angry and a lot more sad than the last one had been. Akira really wished he knew what they were talking about.  
  
“Yeah, well, I’m not dead, so…” he heard Ryuji say. He froze. ‘Dead’? Akira knew that word. It was not a word that he liked, especially not in this context.  
  
“Dea-d?” He asked, hoping he’d heard that incorrectly. He didn’t want Ryuji to die! Why was he dying!? Had it really been that bad!?  
  
“No Akira, I’m not dead, see? I’m fine!” Ryuji responded, gesturing to himself. Well that sounded good, but still… Why would he have said it if it weren’t relevant to the situation at hand? Was he lying? Why would he be lying? Akira couldn’t think of a reason, other than that perhaps it was just none of his business and Ryuji didn’t feel the need to tell him the truth, but he couldn’t shake it as a possibility.  
  
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Ryuji leaned over and grabbed hold of Akira’s left arm, turning slightly to face him and planting Akira’s hand right onto the middle of his chest. Akira stumbled, both because of the sudden need to redistribute his weight and because of the surprise, but managed to prevent himself from falling on his face.  
  
“Uh, th-there! See? I’m okay!” Ryuji said, sounding sort of nervous for some reason. Akira forced himself to breathe, repressing the sudden urge to hide his face behind his tailfin. He could feel Ryuji’s heart beating beneath his fingers, a rhythmic reassurance that he was, in fact, still alive. Ryuji’s hand eventually slid away from his own, and the air against Akira’s skin felt a whole lot colder in its absence. He felt the heartbeat beneath his fingers, and it calmed him, both in the sense that it proved Ryuji was alive, and that it indicated that Ryuji was indeed still okay with at least some physical contact from him. It was still definitely a matter of initiation- Akira probably couldn’t just throw himself back on top of the guy- but he was okay with that. So long as Ryuji was still okay with him hanging around, he was okay.  
  
After a moment, Akira moved his hand over to Ryuji’s side, trying to feel for the movement of his gills. When he’d placed his head on Ryuji’s chest earlier, shortly after pulling him up out of the water, he hadn’t been able to feel any breathing, which had been a huge part of what had freaked him out so badly. He found himself having to repress that same urge to freak out when he couldn’t feel anything this time, either. In fact, now that he focused on it, he genuinely couldn’t feel _anything _. There wasn’t just a lack of movement- there seemed to be a complete lack of gills. Now, he’d noticed that humans lacked a set of gills on their throats, which had definitely been a bit confusing, but he’d still assumed that they at least had a set on their torso. No, okay, he needed some answers here. What was the word they’d used again?__  
  
“G-lls?” Akira asked.  
  
“No, humans don’t have gills,” Ryuji replied after a second. Akira’s face twisted in a strange combination of apprehension and confusion. On the one hand, he supposed that was a good thing, since it meant the fact that he couldn’t feel anything wasn’t a sign that Ryuji was dying, but on the other hand, it created a whole bunch of new questions, namely: how the fuck did they breathe?  
  
“No g-lls?” Akira asked, still trying to process the idea. “How…” shit, what was their word for it? Ugh. He settled for just taking a few dramatic breaths, hoping that the idea got across, and then repeating; “How?”  
  
“How do we breathe?” Ryuji asked.  
  
“Brr-ee-the?” Akira questioned, before repeating his earlier pantomime. Was that their word for it? “Brr-ee-the?”  
  
“Yes, that’s breathing,” Ryuji confirmed. Alright, so he had managed to communicate the correct idea. So far so good. “Uh, we…” Ryuji continued, and then paused, his face screwing up in thought. After a moment, he gestured to his nose and mouth and said; “With these. These are kind of like our gills, I guess.” Okay, again- that asked way more questions than it answered. Not really knowing how else to ask for clarification, Akira took his hand off of Ryuji’s ribcage and put it on his face, over his nose and mouth.  
  
“Brrr-ee-the?” he asked. Had he seriously interpreted that correctly?  
  
“Uh, yup. That’s how we breathe,” Ryuji responded. Akira grimaced slightly, moving his hand away from Ryuji’s face and back onto the floor. So he had interpreted that one correctly, huh? He’d honestly been hoping there’d been some sort of miscommunication there, because the idea of breathing with the same organs you used to smell and to eat was both confusing and horrifying. The nose he could maybe understand, but Ryuji had definitely also gestured to his mouth, and Akira did not want to even begin trying to figure out how the fuck that was supposed to work. More importantly, though…  
  
“Ry-u-ji isss o-kay?” He asked, glancing back up to look at Ryuji’s face. He could try and parse through the appalling implications of breathing and eating with the same organ later, (did they digest their food in their lungs? Great Spirits that sounded disgusting…), after he’d made absolutely sure that nothing was wrong with Ryuji.  
  
“Yeah, Akira, I’m okay,” Ryuji replied, a small smile on his face. Akira nodded, in response, quickly ducking his head back down to try and hide whatever expression he might have been making in response to that. He felt giddy, stupidly happy at the sight of Ryuji’s smile, but he didn’t necessarily see the need to make that obvious.  
  
……..Seriously though- what the fuck? Did humans just, suffocate when they ate? Akira was pretty sure he was never going to be able to get over this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did a bunch of math to find out the approximate size of Akira's tank so that Ann's comment on how deep the tank was would be at least somewhat close to accurate, and in that process I discovered that Akira's canon height it 5'9", or _69 inches tall _. Fucking incredible.__


	14. Humpty Dumpty Bullshit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit is talked, Akira is nowhere near as subtle as he likes to think he is, and an incredibly important offer is (somewhat accidentally) made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Class has started back up for me, so just a fair warning that updates may be a little more, uh, spread out. I mean, I know that I do usually update like, once in a blue moon, but I do actually have a reason this time so... yeah. Sorry about that.

“Okay, so now that Ryuji’s not, like, dying, can we talk about what the fuck just happened?” Futaba piped up. Ryuji turned to look at her. Honestly, he was surprised it had taken her this long to bring it up. She must’ve really been worried, huh?  
  
“Which part of it?” Ryuji asked, though he had a sneaking suspicion that he already knew the answer to that particular question.  
  
“Oh I don’t know, maybe the part where Akira made out with you, then turned right around and gut punched you? How about that part?” She barked, her voice gone higher pitched in the way it did when she got especially wound up. Ryuji sighed.  
  
“Alright, first off; he didn’t make out with me. Making out means that there was like, tongue involved, and there was no tongue. He kinda just… put his face on me,” he blustered, vividly aware of how red he was. “And second off; I have no fucking idea what that was all about, either.”  
  
“I… believe that it may have been an attempt at a very rudimentary form of CPR?” Makoto suggested. All of them turned to look at her, save for Akira, who was still looking at the floor.  
  
“How could he have been trying to do CPR? My man thought humans had gills up until like, a minute ago, how would he possibly understand CPR?” Ryuji asked. He supposed that did make a little more sense than just ‘Akira suddenly felt like sort-of kissing him and then socking him for no reason’, but it was still pretty out there as far as theories went.  
  
“Well he pretty clearly didn’t understand it,” Ann said, “he did, like, exactly zero percent of it correctly.”  
  
“You know CPR?” Ryuji asked. Ann looked at him as though he had just suggested the moon were made of cocaine.  
  
“Uh, I work in an aquarium and used to do babysitting- of course I know CPR!”  
  
“Alright, alright, I was just asking.”  
  
\----------------------------  
  
Akira’s arms were starting to hurt from holding himself up for this long, so he instead moved to lie down on his stomach, folding them up in front of him so he could rest his head. Idly, he stared at Ryuji, who was currently distracted by his podmates. Akira tapped his tailfin against the floor, restless.  
  
It wasn’t enough.  
  
Ryuji was right there, only a few feet away, and yet that somehow wasn’t enough. Akira supposed he had gotten spoiled. His first taste of affection had been fantastic, but it apparently hadn’t been satisfying, because here he was wanting more already.  
  
Akira sighed. What he wanted to do was haul himself over there, flop right back down on top of Ryuji, and go the fuck to sleep, (hopefully without interruption this time), but he couldn’t. Ryuji may have demonstrated both incredible patience and leniency when it came to Akira, but he had also expressed the desire to be the one who initiated contact, which Akira could respect. The only problem was that he wasn’t currently initiating, and Akira would very much like him to be.  
  
After a moment or two of just lying there, staring, a sudden thought came to him: maybe the issue was just distance. Maybe he’d be fine if he just scooted a little closer. That didn’t technically count as him initiating anything, and maybe, if he moved slow enough, Ryuji wouldn’t even notice!  
  
\-----------------------------------  
  
“You’re entirely correct, Ann- Akira definitely did not have any actual knowledge or understanding of the process, and yet it looks as though that’s what he was attempting to do,” Makoto said. “My best guess would be that he’s seen someone do it before, and was trying to mimic the motions of it, even though he pretty obviously had no clue what he was doing.”  
  
“I know that feeling,” Ryuji joked. “Kinda how I live my life, honestly.”  
  
“Mood,” Futaba added. A thought suddenly occurred to him.  
  
“Hey wait a minute,” Ryuji interjected, “when did you get down there? Weren’t you up here when I fell over?”  
  
“Oh, yeah, I was,” Futaba replied, grimacing. “You breaking the railing scared the shit out of me, and I kinda fell down the stairs.”  
  
“Shit, you good?”  
  
“Yeah, I’m fine. Stopped on the landing. Lay there for a few seconds, contemplating life and also how bad my head hurt. Saw you drowning. Got up. Went down the stairs and grabbed an ice pack from the medkit over here ‘cause my head wasn’t terribly happy with my Humpty Dumpty bullshit. Watched Akira pull you up and then, apparently, attempt CPR. You know the rest.” It was just then Ryuji noticed that she did, in fact, have an ice pack, which she was holding up against the back of her head. She didn’t look otherwise injured at all, just displeased.  
  
“Well,” Ryuji said, “I’ve got some advice for the future: don’t do that.”  
  
“Oh you can fuck right off!” Futaba protested. “You’re hardly in any position to talk shit, Leonardo DiCaprio!”  
  
“Who?”  
  
“That guy who played the guy from Titanic who drowned.”  
  
“I’ve never seen that movie.”  
  
“I’ve never seen it either but didn’t he freeze to death?” Yusuke asked. Futaba’s face flushed.  
  
“Oh whatever! The point is: Ryuji can’t be over here giving me any shit for falling down the stairs right after he broke a fucking guardrail with his fat ass and nearly drowned, which, by the way, is what made me fall over in the first place. The point is shut up. Shut up is what I’m trying to get across here,” she huffed.  
  
“Alrighty then,” Ryuji responded.  
  
“That’s not shutting up. That’s the exact opposite of shutting up.”  
  
“Yeah, well- you’re not the boss of me.”  
  
Before that could escalate any further, however, the doors slid open and Mr. Sakura entered the room. It took him a second to look up from the stack of papers in his hands that he’d been scanning through, but once he finally did, he ended up doing a bit of a double take, his eyes lingering especially long on the broken guardrail, Ryuji’s soaked clothing, and Futaba’s ice pack. He looked decidedly unimpressed.  
  
\------------------------------  
  
The doors opening again startled Akira somewhat, but he relaxed after seeing that it was only Mistersakra. So far, he hadn’t been a problem. The rest of the people in the room didn’t look particularly happy to see him, and the tone of voice he used to address them all wasn’t exactly cheerful either, but no one seemed at all violent, so it probably wasn’t an issue.  
  
Akira looked back to Ryuji, who was still thoroughly distracted, and hadn’t seemed to have noticed a thing. Good. Though this wasn’t technically a breach of the boundary Ryuji had established, Akira still couldn’t help but feel a little guilty about it.  
  
That guilt, however, wasn’t enough to stop him from resuming the slow process of inching himself closer.  
  
\---------------------------------------  
  
“Seriously?” Mr. Sakura glowered. “What was the one thing that I said not to do?” They nervously swapped glances, though, wisely, no one responded. The question had been rhetorical, anyway. “No funny business,” he said. “No funny business: that was the one thing we agreed on before I left.”  
  
“Sorry Mr. Sakura,” Ann said after a moment. “We weren’t messing around or anything, it was all an accident, but we still should’ve been more careful.” Her guilt was obvious in both her tone and posture, her shoulders hunched up and her eyes focused firmly on her red canvas shoes. Mr. Sakura looked at her and exhaled, calming down.  
  
“I don’t doubt it, Takamaki,” he sighed. “Alright- let’s hear it.”  
  
“Ryuji did it,” Futaba said quickly, pointing towards the boy in question with the hand that she wasn’t using to hold her ice pack.  
  
“Fucking narc!” Ryuji protested. “Some real loyalty, there!”  
  
“Oh there’s no question of loyalty,” Futaba replied, “I’d sell you to Satan for one corn chip. And I don’t even like corn chips.”  
  
“Wow, you’re such a great friend- wait, you don’t like corn chips?”  
  
“No, not really. I’ve always thought they were kinda flavorless, and the texture doesn’t do much for me either.”  
  
“Yeah, me neither,” Ann chimed in.  
  
“Ryuji tried to sleep on the guardrail even though Ann told him not to and then the guardrail broke, sending both Ryuji and Akira into the tank. Futaba was up there with them at the time but the noise of the guardrail breaking startled her and she accidently fell down the stairs, resulting in only a minor head injury, to which she is attending now. Akira dragged Ryuji up out of the tank,” Makoto explained to a growingly annoyed Mr. Sakura.  
  
“Thank you, Student Council, for staying focused. It’s good to know at least one of you can be helpful,” Mr. Sakura grumbled. “How’s Tiger Shark doing?”  
  
“I’m fine,” Ryuji called down, giving a thumbs up. “Sucked up a lot of water, which wasn’t great, and then Akira punched me, which also wasn’t great, but he was just trying to help so it’s cool. But yeah, I’m all good!” Mr. Sakura raised an eyebrow.  
  
“Akira punched you?” He asked. “That certainly seems out of character.”  
  
“He thought he was helping,” Ryuji replied. “Makoto says it looks like he was tryina do CPR but he was like, bad at it.”  
  
“I’m sorry- CPR? How on earth would he possibly know what that was?” Mr. Sakura asked.  
  
“Well, he know how to talk, doesn’t he?” Ann said. “Had to have picked that up from somewhere. Maybe he hangs around, like, the beaches and stuff and spotted a lifeguard doing it or something?”  
  
“But that wouldn’t make any sense,” Mr. Sakura said, shaking his head slightly. He looked both confused and frustrated. “There’s a reason mer don’t get caught very often, and that reason is that they’re smart enough to avoid humans.”  
  
“I though it was ‘cause they like, munched people who tried to get the drop on them,” Ryuji interjected.  
  
“Yes, well, that too,” Mr. Sakura conceded. “The violence is also definitely a factor. Still, the primary reason they’re so elusive is because of their intelligence. No pod has ever been sighted within 3 kilometers of any shore with a decent human population. Hell, they’ve even started learning to avoid trade routes and commercial fishing waters. They’re very good at staying away from us. For a pod to spend enough time at a proximity close enough to humans to pick up things like language and behavior is… it’s unheard of.”  
  
“Maybe Akira’s just dumb,” Futaba suggested. “Might explain why he likes Ryuji so much.”  
  
“Hey!” Ryuji protested.  
  
“I’m just saying.”  
  
“I have to say, I really don’t like the implications of it,” Mr. Sakura continued.  
  
“Implications of what? Akira being dumb?” Futaba asked.  
  
“He isn’t dumb!” Ryuji argued.  
  
“No, the implications of an entire pod of mer having spent that much time around populated areas without being noticed,” Mr. Sakura explained. “Akira’s comprehension of human language, while certainly not perfect, does still suggest a significant amount of time spent observing populated areas. In order to hear and learn actual words, he would have had to be very, very close. Now, that’s concerning enough as it is, but then you consider the fact that there are an average of six or seven mer to a pod, which means that there would have been a total of six or seven mer in that kind of proximity to a populated area for that long, and no one ever noticed.”  
  
“So… are you saying Akira’s like, a mer ninja or something?” Ryuji asked. He could practically see the vein pop on Mr. Sakura’s forehead.  
  
“What I’m saying is that an entire pod was somehow able to live very close to humans for a considerable amount of time- without being detected.”  
  
“So it’s an entire clan of mer ninjas? I’m gonna be honest; that sounds pretty dope, actually.”  
  
“Kid, what do you think would have happened if somebody had been out swimming and accidentally run into them?” Mr. Sakura asked, his voice tense. Ryuji’s stomach dropped a little.  
  
“Oh….” He said. “Less dope.”  
  
“Exactly,” Mr. Sakura said. “Trying to figure out the ‘why’ is daunting enough, since this goes against literally everything we know about mer behavior, but the more immediate concern should be the ‘how’, because if there happens to be any other pods out there who exhibit this kind of atypical behavior, we would like to avoid the kinds of catastrophes that could arise from having an unsuspecting public and a pod of lingering mer.”  
  
“What about Akira’s pod?” Ann asked. “Wouldn’t they probably still be hanging around here?”  
  
“That’s another concern we need to address,” Mr. Sakura sighed. “Frankly, I’m surprised the moron that caught Akira in the first place didn’t get himself torn to shreds by the rest of the pod. We sent a few people out to go check the area where we found him for any signs of the pod, but we didn’t manage to find anything. Either that means they’re gone, which would be yet another abnormality to add to the list, or they’re still hanging around here and we just can’t find them, which brings us back to the whole ‘how are they going undetected’ thing.”  
  
“Well, couldn’t they just be like, hiding behind rocks or under piers or something?” Ryuji suggested. “Like, I’ve been to the beach before, and I could think of several places where something could’ve been hiding.”  
  
“Tiger Shark, I want you to take a look at Akira,” Mr. Sakura said. “See how big he is?”  
  
“Uh, he’s basically the same size as me?” Ryuji said, eyeing Akira over. Huh, that was kinda weird. Had he gotten closer or something? Naw, probably not. “I mean, his tail’s pretty long, yeah, but he isn’t, like, huge.”  
  
“No, but he’s certainly not small, either, now is he?”  
  
“No?”  
  
“Do you think he could’ve fit into those hiding places you just mentioned?”  
  
“Oh yeah, he definitely could.”  
  
“Alright. Now I want you to picture seven of him, all of about the same size. Do you think that seven of him could fit into those hiding places?”  
  
“Uh… no. No there’s probably no way that would work,” Ryuji admitted, feeling a bit sheepish.  
  
“Exactly,” Mr. Sakura said.  
  
\------------------------------------------  
  
Akira had heard his name come up a couple times now, each time making him pause for a few seconds until he was sure they weren’t addressing him.  
  
Around about the tenth time though he froze completely in his tracks. Ryuji was looking straight at him. Oh shit, had Mistersakra pointed him out? He stared intensely at the water in front of him, heart beating quickly. Maybe there was still a chance he could play it off. Probably not, but maybe.  
  
Mistersakra and Ryuji were still talking. Akira risked a glance out of the corner of his eye, relieved to see that neither of them were looking at him anymore, instead too caught up in whatever it was they were discussing. He still wasn’t sure why Ryuji had turned to look at him, and the rational part of his brain hissed at him that this was probably where he should stop, but that idea was quickly overruled by the part of him clamoring for more fin scratches.  
  
\------------------------------------------------------------  
  
“So wait, are you saying that they’re like, invisible or something!?” Ryuji asked.  
  
“I’m saying we don’t know, but we can’t find them, and we need to figure out how that’s possible. Invisibility is highly unlikely, but so is just about everything else about this situation,” Mr. Sakura concluded.  
  
“Hold on a second guys, I gotta take this,” Futaba said, gesturing to her phone. “It’s Haru. She’s like, super freaked. Apparently thinks I’m dead or something. Be right back.”  
  
“Next time try not to fall down the stairs in the middle of a video call!” Ryuji shouted. Futaba flipped him off as she walked out of the room.  
  
“Wait, she was on a video call?” Mr. Sakura asked.  
  
“Yeah, she was talking to Haru,” Ann replied. “She couldn’t make it ‘cause her dad sucks so Futaba was trying to keep her updated, you know?”  
  
“I seem to recall myself pretty explicitly telling you that ‘no phones’ was the requirement for being being able to invite your friends in,” Mr. Sakura began. Ann wilted, and opened her mouth to try and explain, but he cut her off, saying, “but I suppose this was inevitable. So long as nothing gets posted to instagram or snapchat or whatever the hell it is you kids use, it should be fine.”  
  
Ryuji felt something brush up against his hand and started, looking down to see Akira lying on his stomach, suddenly a whole lot closer than he’d been the last time Ryuji had checked. He wasn’t looking at Ryuji, instead staring in the opposite direction with an indifference that seemed almost forced, as if he were doing it on purpose. His earfins were what gave it away, flared out in what Ryuji was coming to recognize as a sign that Akira was paying very close attention. He seemed tense for some reason.  
  
\---------------------------------------  
  
Fuck. Of course this happened.  
  
Ever since Ryuji had randomly turned to look at him, Akira had taken to staring down at the water as he moved, his head angled away from the human as he approached. Eye contact was a pretty direct challenge, and he was already moving in on someone’s personal space, which was, you guessed it, another form of challenge, and he wasn’t exactly keen on doubling up there.  
  
Now, looking in the opposite direction had a pretty obvious logical flaw, but Akira had elected to ignore it in favor of trying to avoid the possibility of further future conflict. He really shouldn’t have ignored it though, because perhaps if he had realized that he couldn’t see where he was going, he would’ve also realized that that meant he couldn’t tell how far away he was anymore. But he didn’t, which was how he’d ended up scooting directly into Ryuji.  
  
Granted, it was only his right elbow that had brushed up against the boy’s hand, but it had been enough. He’d felt Ryuji jolt and had frozen. He knew there was absolutely no way he was going to be able to pass this off as nothing --he had very obviously just moved, uninvited, into Ryuji’s personal space-- but that didn’t stop him from trying anyway, putting on an air of feigned boredom as if somehow hoping that’d be enough to convince the human that this was nothing out of the ordinary.  
  
\-------------------------------------------  
  
Ryuji started to pick his hand up, but stopped when Akira flinched slightly away from the movement. If he had been tense before, he was even more so now, looking as if he were ready to bolt at any moment. Slowly, Ryuji put his hand back down. Akira relaxed a little bit. What the hell?  
  
\------------------------------------------------------  
  
Ryuji moved his hand. Shit shit shit shit shit that wasn’t good. Akira tensed up, ready to launch himself forward into the water should Ryuji finally decide to drop the niceties and just smack the crap out of him. Instead of that though, Akira felt Ryuji’s hand move back down to where it had been, still lightly touching his elbow. He sighed in relief, relaxing slightly. Nope, looks like Ryuji remained as inexplicably peaceful as ever. What was he doing, though?  
  
\--------------------------------------------------  
  
Not really having any idea of what he was doing, Ryuji decided it was best to try and mimic. Well, maybe not best, but again; not sure what he was doing. Kind of just running on autopilot here.  
  
Moving at a fraction of his normal speed, Ryuji lowered himself down until he was laying on his back, taking care not to move the hand that was in contact with Akira. Once on his back, he paused. How the hell was he supposed to flip over onto his stomach without moving his right hand? He thought for a moment before reaching over with his left hand and placing it atop his right, then slowly scooting that hand away and rolling to the right, towards Akira, who’d remained stock still throughout this entire process.  
  
He rather quickly realized that rolling towards Akira had ended up putting them a lot closer than he’d been anticipating. Seriously, he was right up on the guy now, close enough that their torsos pressed against each other. He could feel Akira’s gills moving against his side, probably right where his own gills would’ve been if he were a mer, funnily enough. It kinda tickled.  
  
“Hey, Akira, can you breathe okay?” Ryuji asked. This was nice and all, but he didn’t want to accidentally suffocate the guy.  
  
Akira nodded, the motion very quick and jerky, and repeated perhaps a few more times than it needed to be. His face was completely covered by his hair, at least from the angle Ryuji was at.  
  
Yawning a bit, (he was still super tired), Ryuji kicked his legs out a little, trying to get more comfortable. In the process of doing so, however, he accidentally bumped his left leg into Akira’s tail and Akira froze. He’d just opened his mouth to apologize when he felt something cold wrap around his left ankle. He recognized the sensation to be the feeling of Akira’s tail, and he closed his mouth again. Akira, still very pointedly not looking at him, shuffled a little closer, moving his hand out to gently clasp at Ryuji’s. Deciding to just go with the flow, (and also functioning entirely on autopilot by now because his brain was too busy trying to process the whole ‘cute boy. holding hand. holy shit’ situation), Ryuji reciprocated the action, curling the fingers of his left hand to twine with Akira’s.  
  
\----------------------------------------  
  
Ryuji was behaving kinda strangely, even for him. For whatever reason, he appeared to be trying to lay down, but was refusing to remove his hand from its place against Akira’s arm, even though it would have been much easier to do so.  
  
Akira didn’t move. He had no idea what was going on right now, and figured it was probably just best to let it play out without drawing extra attention to himself. That was honestly just sort of a blanket strategy- applicable to most unknown situations.  
  
Ryuji had stretched over to put his other hand atop the first, and was slowly sliding that first hand away. What the fuck was he doin- _oh _. Akira had to manually force himself to breathe as he felt Ryuji roll suddenly very close to him. His body was frozen, but his mind was roaring. They were side to side, so close that Akira could feel his gills brush against the still soaking wet fabric of Ryuji’s clothes every time he inhaled.__  
  
“Hey, Akira, can you breathe okay?” Ryuji asked. Had his voice always sounded that good? Because it really did sound good. Wait, what was the question? Could he breathe? Barely, but not because of any actual physical inhibitors.  
  
Akira nodded jerkily, not trusting his voice. He was pretty sure that if he were to open his mouth right now the only sound that might come out would be something along the lines of ‘hhhhhhhhhhhh’.  
  
He knew he was probably just getting his hopes up. The simple of act of laying close to someone didn’t necessarily mean what he was assuming/hoping it meant. He’d been quite literally on top of Ryuji for the majority of the day by now, so humans clearly didn’t seem to have as much of a thing about non-podmate physical contact, which meant that this probably didn’t mean anything in and of itself. Ryuji was just laying down, that was all. It wasn’t as if he had-  
  
That current of thought, along with all the others that had been flowing in the back of Akira’s mind, came to an abrupt stop as he felt Ryuji’s leg brush up against his tail. No way. No fucking way.  
  
Huddling was an important behavior within pods. It was both a pretty literal and a metaphorical display of unity- literal in the sense that podmates would twine their tails and hands together; metaphorical in the sense of ‘sharing breath’, the contact of their gills making it seem almost as if they were breathing as one. Now, Ryuji apparently didn’t have gills, as Akira had rather unfortunately discovered only a few minutes earlier, (he still wasn’t over that), but the positioning of their two bodies had already been similar enough to huddling for him to head towards that conclusion, and Ryuji’s leg against his tail only further solidified his notion that this was… an invitation.  
  
Even as the thought occurred to him he could hardly believe it. He kept his face angled away from Ryuji, unable to even consider actually making eye contact with him at this moment. Huddling was podmate behavior- podmate _only _behavior, so if Ryuji was... Then that meant he… Akira’s face burned. He accepted, Great Spirits, of course he accepted, this was just… very sudden. And also a little odd in that it was only Ryuji making the invitation- normally such proposals were made by the entirety of the pod- but he supposed space constraints might play a role here. Not that he was complaining.__  
  
Akira diverted some of his brain cells from their panicking to instead focus on making himself move, gently wrapping the very end of his tail around the part of Ryuji’s leg that was just above the leg-hand (he still wasn’t entirely sure what those things were called. He had seen them without “shoes” before and they were sort of like hands, but… worse). Before he could give himself enough time to overthink it, Akira shuffled a little closer to Ryuji, closing what minimal space had been left between them, and gently curled the fingers of his right hand around Ryuji’s left.  
  
In the milliseconds that followed, he just barely had the time to once again ruminate on the somewhat odd feel that human skin had to it. It was warm to the touch, slightly rough in a way that mer’s wasn’t, (or at least Akira’s wasn’t. There could have been mer with rough skin, he supposed, he just wouldn’t know), and very dry, which was to be expected for a species that spent its time out of water. Ryuji’s skin wasn’t actually all that dry, but he had just fallen into a tank.  
  
Ryuji’s fingers curled around his, and Akira soared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been sitting around trying to write this chapter for a while. Guess what it was that finally enabled me to finish writing it? If you guessed 'The presence of other work I was supposed to be doing', then you would be correct.


	15. The Chapter That Had Absolutely No Fucking Right To Be This Difficult To Finish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a school night, fish fucker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Turns out I'm not dead, actually. Sorry to disappoint. I mean that both in the "sorry I'm not actually dead and therefore don't have a valid excuse for taking this long" way and in the "this chapter is definitely not good enough to justify said wait" way. So yeah: sorry. Life just kinda... happened, and for whatever reason I had like, the _hardest _time writing this chapter. Seriously, I'd have days where I could barely choke out a single sentence. No motivation. At all. Creativity machine broke, have a nice day. Or a nice several months, in this case. So yeah, to any of you with the god-like patience needed to have stuck around this long, I really am sorry.__

Contrary to his ‘delinquent’ reputation, as well as what a number of his least favorite teachers may try to claim, Ryuji Sakamoto had done drugs exactly zero times in his entire life, and he had no interest in ever changing that statistic. Part of it was fear. His dad had been bad enough sober, but seeing and experiencing what he was like when he was drunk had been more than enough to get Ryuji to swear off alcohol for the rest of eternity. Plus, Ann had described to him in pretty vivid detail the meth-heads and heroin addicts she’d seen on the streets of American cities, once even accompanied by a rather graphic PSA about the use of said drugs that had him freaked out for days afterwards. The other part of it was that he frankly just… didn’t see the appeal. He was already hyper normally, so stuff like crack was out of the question; he had enough difficulty focusing as is, so weed didn’t sound helpful; and if he wanted to see some weird ass shit he’d just ask Yusuke to show him his sketchbook, so acid was off the table as well.  
  
That being said though, he was pretty sure that this was probably what ecstasy felt like. Again, he’d have absolutely no way of knowing, but he was pretty sure.  
  
It had come out of nowhere. One moment he’d just been laying there, chilling with Akira, holding his hand and trying really, really hard to stay cool about it, and the next moment he was whacked out of his mind somehow. It was as if some sort of sniper had shot him, dead on, with like, a speeding train, except in like, a super good way. That was a mixed metaphor there but he couldn’t devote enough thought power to focusing on that particular error because _wwwwwwwuuuuuuuuuaaaaaaaaaggghhhh _.__  
  
Ryuji was happy. He was so happy. Fucking, delighted. Also kinda floaty, like his mind had maybe sorta started checking out of The Hotel ‘Flesh Suit’, and it was great. In addition to all of that, he felt, like, really chill all of a sudden. Like, really chill. Completely at peace with himself and his surroundings in a way he hadn’t even thought was possible.  
  
He was suddenly hyper aware of Akira’s body against him, even more so than he had been previously, and he swore he could feel Akira’s heartbeat beneath his skin. Or maybe that was just his own? Well, whoever’s it was, it was beating pretty dang fast. So probably his.  
  
Akira was purring again. Even though Ryuji felt a little disconnected from his body at the moment, he could still definitely hear- and feel- Akira purring against him. It was a little different from the last couple of times he’d heard it, both in that it was considerably louder, and in that it was interspersed with the occasional trilling noise. Weirdly enough, Ryuji found himself filled with the impulse to purr back, which was odd because, obviously, he wasn’t exactly capable of doing that. He ended up trying anyway; humming tunelessly at Akira, a bit too far out of his mind to consider how stupid he probably looked and sounded while doing so. Well, whatever. Akira certainly didn’t seem displeased.  
  
In fact, he seemed over the goddamn moon and frankly, Ryuji couldn’t stop staring. Akira’s eyes were shut, his face blissful, his body having managed to somehow get even closer to Ryuji’s. The aforementioned purring was interspersed with long, almost melodic trilling noises, which Ryuji found to be incredibly satisfying for a reason that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Akira was positively radiant in that moment, and Ryuji’s whacked out brain could focus on nothing else.  
  
“Woah, holy shit!” Ann’s voice sounded like it was coming from the other end of a tunnel. “Ryuji, what the hell did you do?”  
  
“Why, what’s wrong?” Makoto asked. Ryuji listened to neither of them, too focused on the feeling of Akira’s skin against his.  
  
“Nothing’s wrong, it’s actually kinda the opposite. You hear that noise he’s making? That’s, like, a really happy noise. Like, Akira sounds fuckin’ delighted right now,” Ann explained.  
  
“I don’t think we’ve ever heard one make that much noise before,” Mr. Sakura mused. “Not in the wild, and sure as hell not in a facility. What the hell did Tiger Shark slip him?”  
  
“I dunno but I sure as hell want some,” Futaba muttered. Mr. Sakura must’ve shot her one hell of a look for that one because she was backtracking quickly, adding, “Kidding! Kidding! Only kidding, dad! No drugs for me!”  
  
“Seriously though, Ryuji, are you okay?” Makoto asked. “You seem kind of… off?”  
  
“Mmmmuuurrrrgggg” Ryuji gurmbled, which was a little odd, because he was sure he’d meant to say ‘I’m doing fuckin’ awesome’, and not ‘mmmmuuurrrrgggg’, yet it seemed his mouth hadn’t exactly gotten that memo. Eh. Whatever.  
  
“Okay, second question,” Mr. Sakura began, “what the hell did Akira slip Tiger Shark?”  
  
\-----------------------------  
  
The humans were talking, he could hear that much, but Akira found he didn’t give much of a shit at that moment. They could’ve been talking about feeding him to a great white shark and he wouldn’t have cared at all because he was on cloud fucking nine right now and there wasn’t a shark on earth that could kill that vibe.  
  
He wasn’t sure how much time had passed with him just laying there, sort-of-but-not-really conscious. Could’ve been a few minutes, could’ve been a few days, whatever- it was awesome. What was less awesome was the feeling of Ryuji pulling away- or rather, being pulled away- from him. Akira whined and curled his tail tighter around Ryuji’s leg, clutching onto the human’s hand with the greatest amount of strength he could be bothered to conjure up right now which, granted, wasn’t all that much, but still enough to be noticeable.  
  
“Akira,” someone’s voice called. It sounded far away, and it also sounded distinctly non-Ryuji- a factor which greatly decreased Akira’s desire to listen. “I’m sorry, but we have to leave for now. We have class tomorrow,” the not-Ryuji voice insisted. Now, Akira didn’t understand all of the words in that sentence, not by a long shot (what the hell was a “class” anyways?), but he very much recognize the word “leave”, and if it meant what he was pretty damn sure it meant, then he did not like it.  
  
Just as he processed those words, the person pulling Ryuji gave another tug, almost managing to fully dislodge Akira. At this, Akira yelped in protest, surging forward to adjust his grip on Ryuji and pulling- gently, but with newfound strength- successfully managing to yank Ryuji out of the other human’s grip and back onto himself. He chittered briefly at the other human (he still hadn’t bothered to try and figure out who it was) in a way that conveyed his irritation with the concept of Ryuji-removal that they were presenting, but did so without hostility, and coiled his tail all the way around his human, hugging him close and burying his his face into Ryuji’s neck again.  
  
“Sweet baby jesus he’s strong!” the other person grumbled. “Hey, Mr. Sakura, I might need a little help!” Akira could feel Ryuji laughing and purred, nuzzling his face into Ryuji’s skin and breathing in deeply, using both sets of gills and ignoring the slight sting that still came from his torso. If everyone was done interrupting, he had a nap he’d still like to get to.  
  
Unfortunately however, the universe decided once again to deny him that wish, as he felt hands tugging at his arms, trying to extract Ryuji from his grip. He grumbled in irritation, tightening his grip somewhat and opening one eye to glare up at whoever was trying him. The perpetrator turned out to be Ann, who snorted out a laugh upon seeing his disgruntled expression. Then, she made a critical mistake in kneeling down to try and pull him off again, which- unfortunately for her- placed her directly within range of his tail-fin, which he used to smack her across the face. Not hard, obviously, he barely applied any force at all, so it was really more of a tap than a true smack, but it was still enough to get her attention.  
  
Ann stared at him, flabbergasted, and Akira stared right back, refusing to break eye contact. Several seconds passed before Ann burst out laughing- so hard that she toppled backwards and wound up just sitting on the platform next to them, cracking up. Ryuji was in a similar state, cackling so hard that he shook Akira, and even Akira found himself giggling a little, a small smile breaking out on his face as he buried it back into Ryuji’s shoulder.  
  
“HAH!” Baba shouted, “You just got bitch-slapped by the fish boy!”  
  
“Fish-slapped!” Ryuji chimed, at the exact same time that Baba did. They both blinked, before pointing at each other (Ryuji had a considerably harder time doing so, considering he was still in a full body bind) and going “aaaaayyyyyyyyy!” which Akira was pretty sure wasn’t actually a word, but what would he know?  
  
“Oh my god,” Ann choked out between laughs. “You little shit!” Akira was pretty sure that was an insult, which normally would’ve been enough to make him cringe away at the very least, but it was said entirely without malice, and she was still giggling, and he was… he was part of the pod now, wasn’t he? So he had nothing to fear from her.  
  
It was that thought, that infinitely comforting thought, that prevented him from flinching when she reached towards him and poked him on the nose. Instead, he scrunched up his face and huffed indignantly, though the effect was largely undercut by the fact that he was still smiling.  
  
\---------------------------  
  
Ryuji was aware he had class tomorrow- really, he was. Well, perhaps not so much at the moment, as to be fair, he wasn’t really aware of a whole lot right now, but it wasn’t like the concept of school had completely slipped his mind (though many days he wished it would). So yeah, when his (admittedly addled) brain finally processed Makoto’s grumbling about it getting late and being a school night, the implications were clear. He still tried to ignore it though.  
  
“Ryuji,” Ann called up. He didn’t respond. “Ryuji, Makoto’s right,” Of course she would say that. “Ryuji, come on, I don’t wanna leave either but we’ve been here for hours and we do have to get up at ass o’clock tomorrow for the shit circus- we gotta get going!” Maybe if he just kept ignoring her, she’d go away.  
  
Turns out the opposite was true. Instead of going away, Ryuji heard the sound of Ann’s heeled boots stomping up the metal stairs to the platform, and seconds later felt soft hands wrapping around his arm.  
  
“Aw come on, Ann!” Ryuji complained. “It’s not even that late!”  
  
“It’s like, 6:30, the sun’s gonna set soon!”  
  
“That’s nothing, Ann! What are we, 10?”  
  
“No, we’re not 10, but we do have to take the trains home, don’t we?”  
  
“I mean, yeah, but the trains run way later than this!”  
  
“They may run longer, but we are not taking the trains through the city at night!”  
  
“Where’s your sense of adventure?”  
  
“Hey, if you wanna get murdered, be my guest, but I’m too young to die, and I don’t particularly wanna die a virgin, either. I got things and people to do, you know?” Ann argued. Ryuji snorted.  
  
“Fair, fair- me too.”  
  
“Okay well then get up.”  
  
“No I don’t wanna.”  
  
“You have to.”  
  
“Nah, I’ll just sleep here.”  
  
“You will not,” Mr. Sakura said.  
  
“Come on lover boy, up and at ‘em!” Ann said, tightening her grip on his arm and yanking, trying to drag him off and away from Akira, who she then apologized to, saying, “Akira, I’m sorry, but we have to leave for now. We have class tomorrow.”  
  
Ryuji wondered why she’d bothered adding that last part. As an explanation, perhaps, but that was kind of a wild prospect given that he was pretty damn sure Akira would have no way of comprehending the concept of school. At least, he was pretty sure. Did mer have school? Fuck, he sure hoped not. It sucked enough that humans had to put up with that shit.  
  
It would appear Akira understood some of what she had said though, (that or he simply understood that Ann was trying to dislodge him), because he let out a sharp bark of protest and lunged forwards, yanking Ryuji away from her and wrapping himself tightly around Ryuji, making a noise that sounded a whole lot like an irritated bird in Ann’s direction before nuzzling into Ryuji’s neck.  
  
“Sweet baby jesus he’s strong!” Ann complained. “Hey, Mr. Sakura, I might need a little help up here!” she called out. Mr. Sakura didn’t move, which was fair, and Ryuji couldn’t stop himself from laughing at how disgruntled Ann looked at being ignored.  
  
She crouched down, attempting (unsuccessfully) to pry Akira’s arm off of Ryuji’s torso. Neither of them saw it coming when Akira decided to respond by whacking her across the face with his tail fin. The whole room went silent, as if trying to process what had just happened. Ann in particular looked stunned, staring wide-eyed at Akira, who made unflinching eye contact with her the whole time, as if a challenge.  
  
Ann only managed to hold it together for about three seconds before she just lost it, howling with laughter and crashing backwards onto her butt. Ryuji didn’t end up faring any better, laughing so hard that it hurt, and he was pretty sure he felt Akira laughing as well.  
  
“HAH!” He heard Futaba shriek. “You just got bitch-slapped by the fish boy!” And then, at the exact same time as Ryuji said it: “Fish slapped!”  
  
The two stared at each other for a moment, before pointing at each other (a task that took some doing on Ryuji’s behalf thanks to Akira) and chiming “aaayyyyy!”, which prompted an eye roll from Yusuke.  
  
“Oh my god You little shit!” Ann said, her continued laughter sapping any venom that may have existed from those words.  
  
She then did something that prompted Mr. Sakura to jerk forward, reaching out a hand as if to try and stop her with the force or some shit. Said “something” was leaning in and poking Akira directly on the nose. Admittedly, that made Ryuji flinch a bit as well- Akira didn’t exactly have a great track record vis-a-vis people touching him without his explicit consent- but much to his relief, nothing bad happened. Instead, Akira just made a face and huffed at her, a show of indignance that would’ve been unconvincing even if he hadn’t still been smiling.  
  
“As fun as this undoubtedly has been,” Makoto piped up, “we do still need to get going if we want to avoid riding the trains after dark, and we absolutely do want to avoid riding the trains after dark.”  
  
“Uuugggghhh,” Ryuji groaned. “But it’d be such a dick move to just, like, leave!”  
  
“I know, and I wish there was some way to bring him along too, but you understand how that might be…” Makoto trailed off, halfheartedly gesturing to Akira’s- well, Akira.  
  
“Problematic?” Ann supplied.  
  
“To say the least,” Makoto agreed.  
  
“Come on, Tiger Shark, Student Council’s right- you kids have gotta get going. Tokyo may be on the safer side for a city but it’s still a city, and you don’t ride the rails in a city after dark. I know it sucks, but pry Akira on off of you and head out. He’ll be fine.”  
  
Ryuji sighed. Fuck. He really, really didn’t want to admit it, but they were right. He knew they were right.  
  
“Akira?” Ryuji mumbled. Akira chirped in response, looking up at him with big grey eyes and cocking his head to the side attentively. Fuuuuuck. “Akira I am so sorry but I do actually have to go.” Akira’s brow furrowed and Ryuji backtracked quickly. “I know, I know, and again; I’m super sorry, I don’t wanna go, but I have to. It’s not forever though- I’m coming back tomorrow, I promise!”  
  
“Prr-miss?” Akira asked. He didn’t look terribly happy, to say the least, but he also didn’t look like he was on the verge of freaking out, either, which was good.  
  
“Yeah man, promise. It means I’m absolutely going to do it, no doubt. I’m coming back, Akira, promise,” Ryuji repeated, squeezing Akira’s finned hand in his and smiling encouragingly. Akira hummed anxiously, butting his head against Ryuji’s shoulder. Finally, after several moments, he pulled back, uncoiling his tail from around Ryuji’s body and scooting away a little to allow Ryuji to move.  
  
“O-kay,” Akira muttered. “But prr-miss?”  
  
“You know I do,” Ryuji replied.  
  
“Crr-ect,” Akira said, huffing out a breath and lifting his tail fin up, almost as if brandishing it. The threat made Ryuji chuckle, and he was happy to see a small smile spread across Akira’s face.  
  
Reluctantly, Ryuji finally pulled away, letting go of Akira’s hand and hauling himself up to his feet, his legs groaning in protest at being forced to stand after having been in various states of lazy for the past several hours. He started down the stairs, hearing a splash behind him that indicated Akira’s decision to return to the water, and sure enough, when he stopped to look back on his way out the door, he saw Akira settling down onto the floor of the tank, black hair floating around him.  
  
Ryuji waved goodbye, and Akira, with a smile that looked more than a little bit forced, waved back, just as the doors slid shut between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record, what I was imagining when I wrote Akira pulling Ryuji back away from Ann was that video with the two grey and white cats where there's a person lifting up the kitten and the mama cat stands up on her hind legs and grabs the kitten. I'll link it if I can figure out how to successfully do that, or (more likely), I'll just put it up on my tumblr.


End file.
